OpenAI files for IPO as AI rivals race to go public

OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker, has confidentially filed with US regulators for an initial public offering, joining a wave of AI and tech giants heading to the stock market.

The announcement came a week after rival Anthropic revealed its own IPO plans. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to debut on Nasdaq this Friday, targeting a $1.75tn valuation.

OpenAI said timing remains undecided, noting that “it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.” The firm’s last private valuation was $852bn, while Anthropic recently hit $965bn.

Aviva Investors’ Sunil Krishnan told the BBC that all three have a “vast need for cash” to fund costly AI infrastructure, including chips and model training. “No one wants to be last,” he said.

Investors are watching closely. Richard Crowley of Singapore Management University noted that while OpenAI and Anthropic compete, “the fate of their financing is intrinsically intertwined through public perception of the generative AI space.”

OpenAI said it disclosed its plans because “we expect it to leak,” adding that going public involves “a complicated set of tradeoffs.” CEO Sam Altman recently told CNB bbC.COMC he is in no rush, vowing to list “when it makes sense.”

Source/  BBC.COM