'We plan to be a wildly successful company', says Sam Altman as OpenAI eyes $20 billion in 2026 revenue, hundreds of billions by 2030

OpenAI

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on Thursday that the company is on track to surpass a $20 billion annualised revenue run rate in 2026, as the maker of ChatGPT looks to scale its infrastructure and commercial ambitions to unprecedented levels.

Altman said OpenAI has signed infrastructure deals worth more than $1.4 trillion to expand its global data centre network — a staggering figure that has sparked debate across Silicon Valley and Washington about how the company intends to fund such growth.

“We are trying to build the infrastructure for a future economy powered by AI,” Altman wrote in a post on X. “Massive infrastructure projects take quite a while to build, so we have to start now.”

"We are feeling good about our prospects there; we are quite excited about our upcoming enterprise offering for example, and there are categories like new consumer devices and robotics that we also expect to be very significant," said Altman.

The company, now valued at roughly $500 billion, remains unprofitable but has experienced meteoric growth since launching ChatGPT in 2022. OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar had earlier told CNBC that revenue this year was expected to reach $13 billion, underscoring just how quickly the business is expanding its footprint in the AI industry. "We expect to end this year above $20 billion in annualized revenue run rate and grow to hundreds of billion by 2030," said Altman.

Friar recently drew political attention after suggesting that OpenAI might seek an ecosystem involving private investors, banks, and a potential government “backstop” to support its chip and infrastructure investments. She later clarified her remarks, saying the company was not seeking any federal guarantee.

Altman reinforced that position, writing, “We do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI datacenters. Taxpayers should not bail out companies that make poor decisions.”

David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, also weighed in, saying there would be “no federal bailout for AI” and that competition would naturally replace any failed company.

Altman, however, remains undeterred. "We plan to be a wildly successful company, but if we get it wrong, that’s on us," he added.