• OpenAI's annualized revenue run rate is approaching $70 billion, up more than 70% since the start of Q3, according to Axios.
  • Enterprise revenue has more than doubled since July, signaling a shift from AI experimentation to budgeted business deployments.
  • The surge comes as OpenAI and rival Anthropic prepare for potential IPOs, though OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the company won't go public in 2026.

OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate is nearing $70 billion, according to a report from Axios, marking a dramatic acceleration from the $40 billion run rate the company disclosed in July. The figure, which extrapolates recent recurring revenue rather than representing audited full-year results, reflects a more than 70% increase since the start of the third quarter. Enterprise revenue has more than doubled since July, as businesses move AI workloads from pilot programs into paid production deployments.

The pace of growth is striking even by the standards of high-flying software companies. OpenAI added more revenue in Q3 alone than during all of 2025, according to people familiar with the matter. That suggests generative AI is transitioning from an experimental line item into a core component of corporate IT budgets, particularly in coding, finance, customer support, and internal knowledge work.

“What we’re seeing is enterprises moving from curiosity to commitment,” said a person briefed on the company’s sales pipeline, who requested anonymity to discuss internal figures. “The procurement cycles are shortening, and the deal sizes are getting larger.”

OpenAI’s enterprise push has been years in the making. The company previously disclosed that enterprise contributed more than 40% of revenue in March and was expected to reach parity with consumer revenue by year-end. CFO Sarah Friar noted in July that the enterprise business grew 32% month over month, while the overall revenue run rate rose 20% from June to July. The latest figures suggest that trajectory has only steepened.

The company’s product lineup now includes ChatGPT, the Codex coding platform, enterprise AI tools, developer APIs, and specialized offerings such as ChatGPT for Financial Services. The latter is part of a broader strategy to target regulated industries with higher-value, more defensible use cases, where customers demand robust data governance and security.

But the revenue surge comes with substantial costs. OpenAI expects roughly $278 billion in cash burn between 2026 and 2030, according to Reuters (TRI), as it funds an unprecedented buildout of computing infrastructure. That dynamic—explosive top-line growth paired with enormous capital requirements—has become the defining economic feature of the frontier AI sector.

The competitive landscape is also intensifying. Anthropic, OpenAI’s principal U.S. rival, reported an annualized revenue run rate above $65 billion at the end of July, up from approximately $9 billion at the end of 2025. Anthropic’s 2025 revenue rose 12-fold to nearly $4.6 billion, though it also posted operating losses exceeding $8 billion. The two companies are widely seen as the leading contenders in a potential IPO race, though Altman has said OpenAI will not go public in 2026, citing the AI-safety environment.

In 2025, OpenAI restructured its governance, with its operating business becoming OpenAI Group PBC, a public-benefit corporation, while the OpenAI Foundation retained governance influence and an ownership stake. The shift was intended to improve access to capital and support a possible eventual listing, though no timeline has been announced.

Regulatory scrutiny is mounting in parallel with the commercial expansion. In the United States, there is still no single federal law governing frontier AI developers or requiring disclosure of dangerous model behavior. OpenAI has called on Congress to establish national, capability-based rules covering testing, independent evaluation, cybersecurity, and incident reporting. Meanwhile, states are moving ahead with their own legislation, and the EU AI Act provides a major international compliance benchmark with transparency and copyright obligations for general-purpose AI providers.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on the revenue figures.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of OpenAI's enterprise revenue growth. It has more than doubled since July, not since June.