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OpenAI Spent $34 Billion in 2025 as IPO Looms, FT Reports

June 16, 2026 at 01:01 EDT

Funding & M&A
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OpenAI spent roughly $34 billion in 2025 on research and development, sales and marketing, according to a Financial Times report. As the company prepares for a planned initial public offering (IPO), the figure underscores the scale of its aggressive investment to win the AI market. Major outlets including Reuters have cited the report.

June 15, 2026 · OpenAI

OpenAI Burned $34B in 2025 — Nearly 3× Its Revenue

Audited figures show the AI leader spent roughly $34 billion last year — about $19B on R&D and $6B on sales and marketing — against an estimated $13 billion in revenue, as it races toward a planned IPO.

$34B

Total 2025 spending

$13B

Reported 2025 revenue

~2.6×

Spending vs. revenue

Spending vs. revenue, 2025

Each block ≈ $4B. Spending towers nearly three times over what came in.

$34B

Total spending

$13B

Revenue

Where the $34B went

R&D

$19B

Sales & marketing

$6B

Other costs

$9B

The bull case

IPO preparation accelerates investment and development; ChatGPT keeps strong marks for coding and writing, and heavy upfront compute builds a lasting lead.

The concern

High cash burn could weigh on long-term profitability; share has slipped to rivals like Claude in enterprise, and the CFO reportedly questioned data-center spend.

The road ahead

Compute spend is targeted at a roughly $600 billion scale through 2030.

With an IPO expected to raise fresh capital for ever-larger compute and development, the central question is whether monetization can catch up to the spending.

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