OpenAI significantly lowers its spending target to $600 billion, as gross profit margins come under pressure and raise concerns about profitability.

OpenAI is resetting its capital expenditure expectations, and the artificial intelligence company is facing increasing concerns about whether it can generate enough revenue to cover its costs. According to CNBC on February 20, OpenAI has told investors that its total compute spending target for 2030 is approximately $600 billion, a significant decrease from CEO Sam Altman's previous commitment of $1.4 trillion in infrastructure. Additionally, the company expects total revenue to exceed $280 billion by 2030, a significant increase from $13.1 billion in 2025, with contributions from consumers and enterprise businesses staying relatively flat. According to The Information, OpenAI's adjusted gross margin had declined to 33% by 2025, with the company still expecting to achieve positive cash flow by 2030. Previously, Wall Street News reported that OpenAI is finalizing a round of financing to raise $100 billion at a valuation of $830 billion, with approximately 90% coming from strategic investors. Nvidia may invest up to $30 billion, while long-term partner Microsoft may invest several billion dollars. Significant reduction in expenditure expectations OpenAI's current $600 billion expenditure target is significantly smaller than previous commitments. In the second half of last year, the company announced a series of infrastructure agreements worth billions of dollars, establishing partnerships with leading chip manufacturers and cloud computing companies. Altman had previously stated that OpenAI committed to investing $1.4 trillion to develop 30 gigawatts of computing resources, enough to power approximately 25 million American households. According to CNBC, the company is now providing investors with lower numbers and a more specific timetable because the market is increasingly concerned that its expansion ambitions are too grand relative to potential income. The new spending plan is intended to more directly match expected revenue growth. The Information reported that OpenAI informed investors that the reasoning costs related to running AI models had quadrupled by 2025, leading to a drop in adjusted gross margin from 40% in 2024 to 33%. User growth and competitive pressure coexist Sources revealed that ChatGPT currently supports over 900 million weekly active users, an increase from 800 million in October last year. Despite a slowdown in user growth in the fall of last year, the product's weekly and daily active user numbers have now rebounded to historic highs. Facing competition from Google and Anthropic, OpenAI announced in December that it was entering "red alert" status, focusing on improving the ChatSiasun Robot & Automation functions. The company's programming product, Codex, has over 1.5 million weekly active users, directly competing with Anthropic's Claude Code, which has gained a significant user base over the past year. Record-breaking financing valuation OpenAI is nearing completion of the first phase of a new round of financing, expected to raise over $100 billion. Based on pre-financing valuation, this round of financing could value the company at approximately $830 billion, making it one of the largest private financing rounds in history. In addition to Nvidia, strategic investors in this round of financing include SoftBank and Amazon. Nvidia has confirmed discussions to invest up to $30 billion. This financing round is the first since the company's corporate restructuring in the fall of last year, enabling the issuance of standard equity and a key step towards an IPO. According to sources, company executives have discussed a possible listing as early as the fourth quarter. The massive financing by OpenAI is driven by expectations of soaring AI operational and training costs. According to sources, the company predicted last summer that AI system operation and training costs, as well as backup server expenses supporting its growth, will reach approximately $450 billion between 2025 and 2030. The $830 billion valuation in this round marks a significant increase from $500 billion in the fall of last year, reflecting the continued enthusiasm of major investors for the AI pioneer, despite facing immense expenditure pressures. The smooth progress of financing provides ample financial support for OpenAI's technological research and infrastructure expansion.