OpenAI Hits $25 Billion Revenue, Eyes IPO — The AI Money Race Is Real

OpenAI has crossed $25 billion in annualized revenue, according to sources familiar with the company's financials — a milestone that would have seemed implausible two years ago when the company was still primarily known for ChatGPT's viral consumer launch.

The figure puts OpenAI firmly in the upper echelon of enterprise software companies. For context, Salesforce took 20 years to reach $25B in annual revenue. OpenAI has done it in roughly four years since commercializing its models.

Anthropic Is Right Behind

The competitive picture is equally striking. Anthropic, which raised $4B from Amazon and $2B from Google, is approaching $19B in annualized revenue. The company's Claude models have found strong enterprise adoption, particularly in legal, healthcare, and financial services.

"We're seeing something genuinely unprecedented — two companies in the same sector both growing at triple-digit rates simultaneously. The total addressable market must be enormous." — Vikram Sood, Partner at Sequoia India

The revenue gap between the two is narrowing. Anthropic's growth rate has exceeded OpenAI's in three of the last four quarters, suggesting the market for AI is large enough to support multiple dominant players.

The IPO Question

OpenAI's board is reportedly discussing an IPO timeline, with a potential 2027 listing being floated internally. The company converted from a non-profit structure to a public benefit corporation in late 2025, clearing a key structural hurdle.

For Indian investors and tech professionals, the implications are significant. Indian IT companies that have built OpenAI and Anthropic integrations into their service offerings are watching the IPO closely — a public listing would provide price discovery on the models that have become central to their business.