OpenAI is preparing to go public. The company plans to file for a US IPO as early as September, aiming to raise up to $60 billion in what would be one of the largest tech offerings in recent memory.

The numbers behind the filing

OpenAI’s current private valuation sits at approximately $852 billion, a figure that has drawn no small amount of skepticism from market participants.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are reportedly advising OpenAI on the potential offering.

OpenAI’s nonprofit arm still holds approximately 26% of the for-profit entity, valued at around $130 billion based on current valuation estimates. That unusual corporate structure has been a source of ongoing debate and legal scrutiny.

Why the rush, and why now

Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Meta are all pouring billions into competing AI models. Google has the advantage of existing cloud infrastructure. Meta has open-sourced its Llama models. Anthropic, backed heavily by Amazon, has been gaining ground with its Claude models in enterprise settings.

OpenAI is targeting 30 gigawatts of compute capacity by 2030. The shift toward enterprise clients is another key piece of this puzzle, with OpenAI positioning itself as a business infrastructure company ahead of the filing.

The valuation question

Some projections suggest OpenAI could eventually reach valuations in the hundreds of billions or even approach $1 trillion in the long run. OpenAI is in the middle of a highly capital-intensive expansion phase, and hitting the 30 gigawatt target will require sustained investment for years.

What this means for investors

Speculation around OpenAI’s IPO could influence capital flows between AI equities and AI-themed digital assets. A well-capitalized public OpenAI would intensify the spending war with Google, Meta, and Anthropic, which is good news for Nvidia and other infrastructure providers.