TL;DR

Confidential listing application filed

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and widely regarded as one of the world's leading artificial intelligence players, has submitted a confidential IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Information reported the news, as cited by Yahoo Finance. According to the report, the company expects to go public "within the next year," pointing to a possible debut between September and November 2026, or early 2027.

Underwriters from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan are already engaged, according to sources.

OpenAI plans IPO within one year - Bilde 1

Astronomical valuation — but red ink

OpenAI's valuation growth over the past three years has been remarkable. From an estimated value of $29 billion in 2023, the company rose to around $300 billion in early 2025. In March 2026, a funding round raising $122 billion set the post-money valuation at $852 billion. Forge data from the private market indicated a value of nearly $909 billion as of June 8, 2026.

$24B
Annualized revenue run rate (March 2026)
$14B
Estimated losses in 2026

Despite revenue growth, the financial picture remains challenging. The company is not expected to reach profitability until around 2030, and internal estimates suggest accumulated losses of up to $115 billion through 2029. Analysts at HSBC believe OpenAI will need more than $207 billion in additional financing through 2030.

OpenAI plans IPO within one year - Bilde 2

Critical voices and structural risks

Not everyone is convinced that an IPO at this stage makes sense. Harrison Rolfes, senior analyst at PitchBook, is among the most vocal skeptics.

"OpenAI's potential $1 trillion IPO is a bet on a company that has never been profitable, in a market it is losing, with a cost structure it cannot change for at least another year." – Harrison Rolfes, PitchBook

Rolfes also notes that PitchBook's quality assessment of AI companies ranks OpenAI last among its peers. Investors must additionally contend with an unusual corporate structure: OpenAI is in the process of converting from a nonprofit organization into a so-called "capped-profit" entity. The company has also had a turbulent governance history, including the widely covered temporary ousting of CEO Sam Altman in 2023.

Fierce competition from Anthropic

OpenAI is not alone in preparing for a public listing. Rival Anthropic, the company behind the Claude assistant, also filed its own confidential IPO application at roughly the same time, according to the same reports. What makes this particularly dramatic is that Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in its most recent funding round — meaning the competitor has, for the first time, surpassed OpenAI's valuation on the private market.

To strengthen its competitive position, OpenAI is reportedly considering lowering prices on its AI services aimed at enterprise customers ahead of the listing.

Two of the world's most valuable AI companies could both make their stock market debuts within twelve months

What does this mean for the market?

A potential OpenAI IPO would represent one of the largest technology listings in recent memory. If the valuation approaches or exceeds $1 trillion, it would place the company in the same league as tech giants like Apple and Microsoft from day one. The risk factors are nevertheless significant: weak profitability, intense competition, and a corporate structure that markets have limited experience pricing.

For Norwegian investors with exposure to the technology and AI sector — whether through funds or individual stocks on international exchanges — an OpenAI listing could be an event well worth watching closely.