OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has confidentially filed preliminary paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the company announced on Monday. The move places OpenAI alongside rival Anthropic — which filed on 1 June — and Elon Musk's space company SpaceX in a wave of high-profile AI-linked listings that analysts are calling the most consequential test of investor appetite for high-growth technology stocks in a decade.
OpenAI declined to disclose the size or terms of the offering, and said no timeline has been set. "It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company," the company said in a statement, adding that it chose to announce the filing proactively because it expected the news to leak regardless. According to Reuters, the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a market debut possible as early as September. That would follow SpaceX, which is pursuing what would be the largest IPO in history at a $1.75 trillion valuation, and Anthropic, which filed weeks after closing a funding round that valued it at $965 billion.
Founded in 2015 as a research-focused nonprofit, OpenAI created a for-profit arm four years later to help fund the enormous costs of developing large-scale AI systems. The company converted to a public benefit corporation in late 2024, a restructuring designed to allow it to raise far greater capital than its original nonprofit structure permitted. That overhaul drew fierce criticism from early backer Elon Musk, who sued OpenAI and accused CEO Sam Altman of turning the nonprofit into a vehicle for private enrichment. A US jury ruled unanimously against Musk in May, clearing what analysts described as a significant legal obstacle for a public listing. OpenAI also renegotiated its partnership with Microsoft — which has invested $13 billion in the company since 2019 — freeing it to forge new commercial ties with Amazon and Alphabet's Google.
The financial backdrop for the IPO is striking. OpenAI told investors in March that it was generating $2 billion in monthly revenue, growing roughly four times faster than the companies that defined the internet and mobile eras. ChatGPT now counts more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million paying subscribers. The company raised $110 billion at an $840 billion valuation earlier this year from backers including SoftBank, Amazon, and Nvidia, though it has told investors it does not expect to reach profitability until 2030.
The cluster of mega-listings is being watched closely across the AI sector. Perplexity, a US AI search startup, said it remains on track for a 2028 IPO regardless of how the OpenAI and Anthropic debuts perform, though its CEO Aravind Srinivas acknowledged there would be "ripple effects" if the listings disappoint. Some market analysts warn the blockbuster offerings could absorb capital that might otherwise support smaller listings, while others note that a successful SpaceX debut this week — which Srinivas called "a leading indicator" — could pave the way for the broader AI IPO wave to reshape global capital markets.