TL;DR
OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, potentially listing this autumn. Anthropic filed last week at $965bn. SpaceX lists Thursday at $1.8tn. The AI public market is about to absorb three mega-listings.
OpenAI submitted confidential IPO paperwork to the SEC on Monday, the company confirmed. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are advising on a potential listing that could come as soon as the autumn, according to people familiar with the matter.
The filing makes OpenAI the third major AI-adjacent company to move towards public markets in a single week. Anthropic filed confidentially last week at a $965 billion private valuation. SpaceX, which now includes xAI, is expected to begin trading on Thursday at roughly $1.8 trillion.
OpenAI’s hedged language
“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” OpenAI said in a statement. “But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
The company is also planning a tender sale of shares in the coming weeks to provide liquidity to employees before any public listing. OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round in March at an $852 billion valuation, the largest private raise in history.
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The competitive pressure
Anthropic’s valuation leapt past OpenAI’s for the first time in its latest private round, hitting $965 billion as its revenue surged. That reversal, combined with SpaceX’s imminent $1.8 trillion listing, creates pressure for OpenAI to establish a public-market benchmark before its competitors define the terms.
OpenAI has told investors it plans to spend roughly $600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030. That kind of capital requirement is difficult to fund indefinitely through private rounds, even at OpenAI’s scale.
The challenges in the filing
The S-1, when it becomes public, will need to address several known issues. OpenAI reportedly missed certain internal revenue and user growth targets. Several key executives have departed or stepped back from their roles.
The company’s restructuring from a non-profit to a for-profit entity is ongoing, and the failed Musk lawsuit to block the conversion, while legally resolved, surfaced internal documents that will be scrutinised by public-market investors.
Three IPOs, one question
The convergence of OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX in public markets within months of each other will test whether investor appetite for AI is deep enough to absorb three mega-listings simultaneously. SpaceX alone is seeking $75 billion.
If all three succeed, AI companies will have raised more capital from public markets in a single year than in the entire history of the sector. If demand falters, the one that files last will pay the highest price for waiting.
