OpenAI Officially Files IPO Plans, Ready to Compete with Anthropic and SpaceX on US Stock Exchanges
The artificial intelligence company behind the success of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has revealed major plans to sell shares to the public through a listing on the United States stock exchange. On Monday local time, OpenAI announced that it has privately filed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) registration document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
However, OpenAI emphasised that they will not be in a rush to list on the stock exchange in the near future. “We have not decided on the timing; it may take quite some time because there are things we want to achieve that are likely easier to accomplish as a private company,” OpenAI wrote in an official statement.
OpenAI’s move has been predicted for months. However, this announcement comes exactly one week after its AI rival, Anthropic, declared similar plans to go public. The plans for OpenAI and Anthropic to enter the stock market follow the move by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company which oversees Grok, which is scheduled to make its debut on Nasdaq this Friday.
Unlike SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, the producer of the Claude chatbot, focus primarily on AI development. The two companies have been engaged in fierce competition since Dario Amodei founded Anthropic five years ago, after leaving OpenAI following a dispute with Sam Altman, one of the co-founders and CEO of OpenAI.
Currently, both AI giants are competing intensely for users, corporate consumers, and investors. The private market valuations of both companies are now approaching the US$1 trillion mark. In its most recent funding round, OpenAI secured a valuation of US$852 billion, while Anthropic reached US$965 billion.
Competition has now shifted to the public arena regarding who will make the first stock market debut, given that neither company has revealed an exact date. Only last week, Sam Altman told CNBC that he was in no hurry and would only bring OpenAI to the public “when it makes sense.”
In its statement on Monday, OpenAI admitted it intentionally revealed its IPO plans early because “we anticipated this information would leak.”
Management also acknowledged that the decision to go public “is a series of complex compromises.” However, with the documents now on the SEC’s desk for review, OpenAI stated that they now have the “option to go public sooner if that proves to be the best path.”