OpenAI Upcoming IPO: ChatGPT maker races Anthropic to public market debut

OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO, according to the Wall Street Journal, working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters, with JPMorgan Chase also involved.¹ The filing sets up a potential public debut between September and November 2026⁴ — possibly ahead of its rival Anthropic, which reportedly could IPO as soon as October.⁵ This news comes on the heels of SpaceX filing to go public, with an AI-heavy prospectus of its own, following its acquisition of xAI.⁶

All three of these companies appear on track to IPO at colossal valuations, setting up what could be a blockbuster year for IPOs. Already, Forge private market data shows SpaceX is valued at $1.53 trillion and OpenAI's private market valuation is $908.81 billion as of June 8, 2026.⁷ OpenAI is reportedly eyeing an IPO valuation of around $1 trillion, with the offering expected to raise $60 billion or more.⁸ Meanwhile, Anthropic is reportedly raising a new round of $30 billion in private market funding at a $900 billion valuation.⁹

In addition to having mega valuations and AI in common, these companies' paths to the public market may overlap.

In OpenAI's case, a May 2026 win in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk (SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Officer) helped clear the way for an IPO.¹⁰ And the race against Anthropic to go public seemingly has a lot to do with trying to win over a larger share of investors,¹¹ amidst these companies' own significant investments in AI infrastructure.

Bringing more data center capacity online potentially means these companies can improve their models faster while feeding more customer demand. In Anthropic's case, it struck a deal in May 2026 to rent capacity from SpaceX¹² while it also invests in other major infrastructure buildouts.¹³ Meanwhile, OpenAI has committed $1.4 trillion over seven to eight years for data center infrastructure deals, including through its Stargate project with partners like SoftBank and Oracle.¹⁴

So, while there may be some friendly competition behind the scenes to win some press and prestige for IPOing first, there's a financial element at play, too.

Going public, however, comes with substantially greater disclosure requirements and scrutiny.

For now, OpenAI does not have to disclose financial details nearly to the extent it would if it were public already. An IPO conducted before any company meets public market expectations may risk a lower valuation than it could achieve under more optimal conditions.

As such, despite the headlines around OpenAI getting ready to go public imminently, OpenAI co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman reportedly told staff that an IPO filing is not the same as being IPO-ready and the company would wait until it's prepared to go public.¹⁵

The timing of any IPO filing or public offering remains uncertain. Until then, interested investors may be able to still invest in OpenAI stock pre-IPO through a private marketplace like Forge.

OpenAI: Company background

OpenAI began in 2015 in San Francisco as a nonprofit AI research lab, led by 11 cofounders, including Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Sam Altman and Wojciech Zaremba, among others.¹⁶

Musk has since left and been embroiled in legal battles with OpenAI, amidst OpenAI's evolving corporate structure.¹⁷ While there's still a nonprofit arm that has a stake in the for-profit version of OpenAI, the change in structure is what has allowed the company to accelerate funding¹⁸ and set its sights on an IPO.¹⁹

The company is widely known for creating ChatGPT, which debuted in November 2022, helping to kick off the current AI era.²⁰

Commercializing AI

As OpenAI transitioned its corporate structure and released new ChatGPT models, it also has seen rapid commercialization and significantly contributed to a flurry of AI-related spending and investments.²¹

From 2023 to 2025, OpenAI's compute approximately tripled each year from 0.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2023 to around 1.9 GW in 2025. Meanwhile, revenue grew at approximately the same pace, from $2 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2023 to over $20 billion in 2025.²²

For the first quarter of 2026, OpenAI's revenue reportedly hit around $5.7 billion, with annualized revenue above $30 billion. However, rival Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, has reportedly surpassed OpenAI on revenue, with annualized figures approaching $45 billion.²³

Long term, there's potential for significantly more revenue from areas like advertising within ChatGPT, as well as other enterprise AI tools like Codex, a coding agent.²⁴ OpenAI projects over $280 billion in revenue by 2030, though it remains to be seen whether that type of lofty figure is realistic.²⁵

OpenAI stock price history

OpenAI's Forge Price is $733.54 at a $908.81 billion valuation as of June 8, 2026.²⁶ That's up over 6% from an $852 billion Series C valuation in March 2026.²⁷ More dramatically, OpenAI's early 2024 Forge Price was $150 at an $87 billion valuation, meaning the current valuation has increased more than tenfold.

Forge Price is a derived data point that reflects the up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies, and is calculated based on a proprietary model incorporating pricing inputs from primary funding round information, secondary market transactions and indications of interest (IOIs) on Forge.

OpenAI funding history and private market valuation

OpenAI's funding history reflects its rise from research nonprofit to one of the most valuable private companies in the world. Its first primary funding round came in July 2019, when it raised $193.83 million at a $1.94 billion valuation, with investors such as Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and Andreessen Horowitz participating.²⁸

Forge Data as of 06/08/2026

After ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, the pace and scale of funding accelerated. In April 2023, OpenAI raised $150 million at a $28 billion valuation. A year and a half later, in October 2024, OpenAI raised $13.33 billion at a $157 billion valuation, with repeat investors including Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, K2 Global and Founders Fund.²⁹

Just a few months later, in March 2025, OpenAI nearly doubled its valuation to $300 billion, raising $41 billion, which included investors like Fidelity, Nvidia, Tiger Global Management and SoftBank.³⁰

OpenAI's most recent primary funding round came in March 2026, when it raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation. The round included a wide range of investors such as Amazon, D. E. Shaw Ventures, Nvidia, SoftBank and T. Rowe Price.³¹

How to invest in OpenAI pre-IPO

Although OpenAI has not announced a specific IPO date, many reports suggest a listing between September and November 2026 is realistic.³²

Check back here or take a look at Forge's upcoming IPO calendar to stay in the loop about a potential OpenAI IPO and other pending public offerings.

Those looking to learn more about the process may also read Forge's buyer's guide to investing in private market shares. To start exploring opportunities, you may create an account. After creating a free account, eligible investors may have the opportunity to buy and sell shares of private companies, including OpenAI, subject to availability.