OpenAI files confidential S‑1, hinting at a trillion‑dollar IPO

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, submitted a confidential draft S‑1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally beginning the process for a potential initial public offering. The filing comes a week after rival Anthropic filed a similar confidential IPO request and just before SpaceX is expected to launch its own listing, creating a trio of mega‑IPOs in the artificial‑intelligence sector.

The company did not disclose an offering size, price range or timeline, stating that a public listing “may be a while” because certain strategic initiatives are easier to pursue while remaining private. OpenAI’s most recent private funding round valued it at about $852 billion, with analysts speculating a market valuation could approach $1 trillion. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are reported to be leading the underwriting effort, and the firm plans a tender‑sale of shares to provide liquidity for employees before any public debut.

OpenAI’s filing underscores the massive capital needs of generative‑AI firms, which project hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending through 2030. The move also highlights intense competition with Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, and Elon Musk’s xAI/SpaceX, as investors seek public‑market funding to sustain rapid growth and massive data‑center costs.