OpenAI filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8, 2026. The move sets the stage for the AI company’s potential public listing as soon as fall 2026 but with timing still undecided, the company said [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].
The confidential filing allows OpenAI to undergo regulatory review without immediate public disclosure of financial details. OpenAI noted it expects the filing to leak and chose to announce it proactively. The company said that some business tasks remain easier while private, creating a tradeoff as it considers the optimal timing to go public [2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9].
OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as joint bookrunners for the IPO process [1, 3, 4, 9]. The company reported a valuation around $852 billion to $880 billion based on recent funding rounds and secondary market data, though some sources note rival AI firm Anthropic’s valuation has recently surpassed OpenAI’s, ranking between $965 billion to $1 trillion [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9].
Earlier this year in March 2026, OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round, lifting its valuation to approximately $852 billion. The company has raised over $180 billion to date [1, 5, 9]. Despite more than 900 million weekly active users on ChatGPT, OpenAI faces growth and revenue challenges, including some executive departures or role changes [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9].
Financially, OpenAI plans to invest about $600 billion in AI computing infrastructure by 2030 and does not expect to reach positive cash flow until around that time, due to ongoing compute costs supporting AI research [1, 5, 6]. Reports also indicate OpenAI intends to launch an employee stock sale program allowing staff to sell shares based on the current $852 billion valuation [9].
The IPO will place OpenAI in direct competition with other major AI and tech firms planning to go public in 2026, including Anthropic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which targets a debut valuation of $1.75 to $1.8 trillion expected to be announced on June 12, 2026 [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9].
OpenAI's confidential filing confirms the company remains flexible on the timing of its public offering, balancing private-sector agility with investor demands. The next key event in the AI IPO race will be SpaceX’s expected stock market debut tomorrow, June 12, 2026 [1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9].
