OpenAI is sprinting towards an IPO at the end of the year: cutting off sideline businesses and fully focusing on realizing the value for the enterprise, aiming for revenue of 280 billion US dollars in 2030.

Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI is currently focusing the attention of employees and investors on its business operations in preparation for a possible IPO by the end of this year. Fidji Simo, CEO of OpenAI's Applied Division, stated at a recent all-hands meeting that the company is committed to serving enterprise clients and actively shifting towards high productivity application scenarios - a strategic shift seen as a key step in upgrading ChatGPT from a consumer product to an enterprise productivity tool. Insiders revealed that OpenAI's initial public offering (IPO) could potentially launch by the end of this year at the earliest, but the specific timing is still subject to adjustment. The source, who requested anonymity due to confidentiality concerns, emphasized that the current preparations have entered a critical stage. OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in 2022, sparking a wave of generative artificial intelligence - the phenomenon-level chat tool now has over 900 million weekly active users. However, the star company is not stopping there and is accelerating the capture of market share in the enterprise sector to consolidate its industry position, facing competition pressure from tech giants such as Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) while also engaging in direct confrontation with Anthropic, which is also preparing for an IPO. During a recent all-hands internal meeting, OpenAI's Applied CEO Fidji Simo conveyed clear strategic directives to the employees. Simo pointed out that the core opportunity the company is currently facing is to convert its existing 900 million users into professional users who deeply rely on AI computing power, and the only way to achieve this goal is through extreme focus. She warned the team to stop all distracting "side tasks", as OpenAI will significantly reduce resources allocated to non-core areas such as healthcare, shopping, and advertising. At a meeting in March, Simo further elaborated on the current strategic direction: OpenAI is pushing forward with the same urgency as during the "red alert" period in December last year, but she also emphasized that the company must avoid categorizing all affairs as "urgent". Simo explicitly stated at the meeting, "What is truly important for us right now is to maintain strategic focus and push execution to the extreme. Only in this way can we continue to make breakthroughs in the intense market competition." Meanwhile, OpenAI's financial system is undergoing a deep transformation to prepare for the sprint to the capital market. Led by CFO Sarah Friar, the company has recently appointed several executives with rich experience in going public, including former Block Chief Accountant Ajmere Dale and former DocuSign financial leader Cynthia Gaylor. Gaylor's joining is widely seen in the industry as a core signal for OpenAI to start managing investor relations and optimizing financial transparency. Furthermore, to comply with the legal standards of going public, OpenAI has nearly completed its transformation from a purely non-profit structure to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) model. This transition not only resolves governance conflicts that previously troubled the company, but also paves the way for attracting investments of trillions in computing power. It is worth noting that OpenAI caused market shock earlier due to its large-scale infrastructure plan proposed for the end of 2024, and since then, the company has been focusing on developing a clearer expenditure target system. As reported earlier, the $1.4 trillion investment target vigorously promoted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was adjusted in February during communications with investors to achieve approximately $600 billion in total computing expenditure by 2030. OpenAI's latest forecast shows that total revenue will exceed $280 billion by 2030, with a nearly equal contribution from consumer and enterprise operations. The company emphasizes that the $600 billion total computing expenditure target is not a standalone figure but aims to directly correlate with expected revenue growth.