OpenAI files confidential IPO paperwork, joins SpaceX and Anthropic

OpenAI announced on Monday that it has submitted a confidential S‑1, making it the third AI‑focused company to start the IPO process this year after SpaceX and Anthropic. The filing does not include a timeline or fundraising target, but it gives the firm the option to go public sooner if market conditions improve [1].

The move follows a March private round that raised $122 billion for OpenAI, underscoring the scale of capital needed to build the data‑center infrastructure and talent pool required for frontier AI models. While the company’s revenue from subscriptions, ads and services is estimated between $10 billion and $20 billion, its expenses on cloud computing and staffing have driven sizable losses, prompting internal restructurings and debate over the right moment to list. Executives had previously eyed a late‑2027 or early‑2028 IPO, but the confidential filing suggests they are keeping options open [1].

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI staff, filed its own confidential paperwork on June 1 and recently secured a valuation of $965 billion, briefly surpassing OpenAI’s $852 billion mark. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and Starlink operator, filed its IPO documents last month and is expected to sell $75 billion of stock in an offering that is reportedly two‑times oversubscribed, indicating $150 billion of demand [2]. Together, the three companies could raise at least $180 billion, a sum larger than the total raised by the 400 U.S. companies that went public in 2021, and each could be valued above $1 trillion despite being unprofitable and having sales far below existing trillion‑dollar firms [1][2].

The simultaneous arrival of three potential trillion‑dollar listings tests Wall Street’s appetite for AI exposure. Analysts warn that the flood of new shares could create headwinds for other AI‑related stocks, forcing large investors to rebalance portfolios by selling holdings in established tech giants such as NVIDIA, Microsoft and Alphabet. The order in which the IPOs occur may set pricing benchmarks, with SpaceX’s Starlink profits likely to anchor valuations for the other two [2].

If OpenAI proceeds, its hybrid structure—a public‑benefit corporation overseen by a nonprofit that owns roughly 25 percent of the firm—adds regulatory complexity and may attract scrutiny from the SEC and state regulators. How the company addresses societal risks, from AI‑induced job displacement to alleged “AI psychosis,” in its public disclosures will be closely watched by advocacy groups and investors alike.

The real question now is whether the market can absorb three mega‑cap offerings in quick succession, and how the sequencing of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI will shape pricing, investor demand, and the broader AI investment landscape.