Report: OpenAI Surpasses $2 Billion in Annualized Revenue

OpenAI reportedly surpassed $2 billion in annualized revenue in December.

The ChatGPT creator believes it can more than double this figure in 2025, thanks to strong interest from business customers who want to use its generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the workplace, the Financial Times (FT) reported Friday (Feb. 9), citing unnamed sources.

OpenAI did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

Reaching the milestone of $2 billion in annualized revenue places OpenAI among the ranks of tech giants like Google and Meta as one of the fastest-growing companies in history, according to the report.

Originally established as a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research lab in 2015, OpenAI transitioned into a commercial entity in 2020, the report said. Since then, its revenue has experienced exponential growth. In October, OpenAI’s annualized revenue was $1.3 billion.

OpenAI’s success can be attributed to the wide adoption of its products by major corporations, according to the report. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in November that 92% of Fortune 500 companies were using OpenAI products, including ChatGPT and its underlying AI model, GPT-4.

Despite its revenue growth, OpenAI remains a lossmaking company due to the substantial costs associated with building and operating its AI models, the report said. In an interview with the FT in November, Altman acknowledged the training expenses but emphasized their necessity for driving innovation.

OpenAI’s primary backer, Microsoft, has committed up to $13 billion to support the company, per the report. The strategic alliance between the two companies has OpenAI’s models serving as the foundation for Microsoft’s AI Copilot, an AI assistant for enterprise users of Microsoft 365.

OpenAI recently conducted a stock sale that valued the company at $86 billion, triple its value from April 2023, the report said.

Altman is also exploring ways to reduce costs by enhancing the supply of semiconductors, a critical resource for AI companies, per the report.

In January, OpenAI unveiled several additions to its AI models and services, saying these would include new embedding models, application programming interface (API) usage management tools and plans to reduce pricing for one of its models.