OpenAI’s Annualised Revenue Nears $50 Billion, $20 Billion Below Earlier Figure

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reportedly informed investors that its annualised revenue for September 2026 was close to $50 billion, approximately $20 billion below a figure previously communicated to investors. The discrepancy became public on October 8 after reports from the Financial Times and Reuters highlighted differences between OpenAI’s financial calculations and earlier estimates. The revised figure has attracted attention because investors use revenue growth to assess the commercial strength of AI companies and the sustainability of their enormous investments in computing infrastructure. Although the difference initially raised concerns about the pace of OpenAI’s growth, reports indicate that accounting methodology played a significant role in the comparison. OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The central issue concerns how OpenAI and its competitor Anthropic calculate and report revenue generated through cloud-computing partners. OpenAI generally excludes certain proceeds from sales made through platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud when presenting its net revenue figures. Anthropic, by contrast, includes revenue from sales through cloud partners in its reported figures, even though a portion of that money is paid to those partners. According to Reuters, Anthropic pays cloud providers approximately 16% of every dollar earned through these channels, which accounted for around half of its revenue in the previous year. The differing approaches make direct comparisons between the companies difficult unless the figures are adjusted to reflect consistent accounting methods.

The earlier $70 billion figure reportedly emerged from an attempt to provide investors with a more comparable measure of OpenAI’s financial performance against Anthropic. The newer figure of approximately $50 billion reflects OpenAI’s own approach to calculating annualised revenue. This distinction is important because annualised revenue is not necessarily the same as the revenue a company has already earned over a full financial year. It is often calculated by taking a recent period’s revenue and projecting it across 12 months, making it a useful indicator of business momentum but an imperfect measure of future performance. Changes in customer demand, subscription growth, cloud sales and computing costs can all affect actual financial results. Consequently, the two figures should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that OpenAI suddenly lost $20 billion in revenue.

Despite the reporting discrepancy, OpenAI’s business has continued to expand rapidly. Reuters reported that the company began 2026 with an annualised revenue run rate of approximately $20 billion, compared with around $6 billion in 2024. However, its quarterly revenue was reportedly overtaken by Anthropic for the first time in the second quarter of 2026, when OpenAI recorded approximately $6.7 billion compared with Anthropic’s $11.5 billion. Anthropic’s annualised revenue reportedly exceeded $65 billion in July, with earlier estimates suggesting it could approach $100 billion by the end of the year. These figures have intensified competition between the two companies as both prepare for potential public listings and attempt to demonstrate that their investments in advanced AI models can generate sustainable commercial returns.

The announcement also affected financial markets, where investors have become increasingly sensitive to the financial risks associated with the AI boom. Reuters reported that US technology stocks fell following the news, with chipmakers among the companies facing pressure as investors reconsidered expectations for future AI spending and demand. Nvidia, Oracle and Micron were among the stocks reported to have declined during the market reaction. The episode highlights how closely the valuations of technology companies have become linked to expectations about AI companies’ future revenues. It also strengthens calls for greater transparency in how private AI companies report revenue, operating costs and long-term computing commitments. As OpenAI and Anthropic move closer to potential public offerings, investors are likely to demand more detailed financial disclosures to understand their growth, profitability and exposure to the costs of developing increasingly powerful AI systems.