AI Giants Burn Through Rp 65 Trillion in Six Months, Sparking Investor Concern
Technology giants are racing to develop the most advanced artificial intelligence systems, but the enormous costs involved are beginning to worry investors. Questions are mounting over whether the massive expenditure on AI development and expensive data centre infrastructure will ultimately deliver commensurate returns.
OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT, reportedly burned through US$3.7 billion, equivalent to approximately Rp 65 trillion, in just the first six months of 2026, according to a report by The Information citing documents shared with shareholders. Reuters has not independently verified the documents.
Earlier this month, OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO). A source indicated the IPO could take place as early as September 2026, potentially valuing the company at up to US$1 trillion. Rival Anthropic has also announced its own IPO plans, with both firms racing to become the first publicly listed AI company. They believe that going public first will help shape investor perception of their value and establish their chief executives as leading figures in the AI industry.
As of May, many financial advisors expected OpenAI to initiate the IPO process first. The company had reportedly informed some investors that it was targeting an IPO as soon as September this year. However, Anthropic moved faster, announcing on 1 June that it had confidentially filed documents with US regulators. OpenAI followed suit a week later.
Anastasios Angelopoulos, CEO of AI evaluation and measurement firm Arena, described the rivalry as extremely aggressive. “It’s an all-out war between them,” he said. “Every time there’s a new release from Anthropic, the bet is that OpenAI will quickly follow, and vice versa.” Both OpenAI and Anthropic declined to comment on the rivalry between their CEOs.
The competition also extends to how the companies present their financial performance to investors. According to sources, OpenAI has told investors and employees that Anthropic’s accounting methods inflate its revenue by billions of dollars. In April, OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer, Denise Dresser, reportedly told staff that Anthropic’s financial reports were overstated. Anthropic records all customer payments for AI services as revenue, even though a portion of those funds is subsequently passed on to partners such as Amazon and Google. OpenAI, by contrast, reports only net revenue after paying its partner, Microsoft.