ChatGPT maker reportedly eyes $1 trillion IPO despite major quarterly losses (arstechnica.com)

OpenAI is reportedly preparing for an IPO that could value the company at as much as $1 trillion, with regulatory filings possibly as early as the second half of 2026 and a target listing in 2027, according to Reuters sources and comments from CEO Sam Altman. Preliminary talks have discussed raising roughly $60 billion in new equity (a figure representing proceeds, not total valuation). The move comes amid reports of steep quarterly losses—estimated by one source at up to $11.5 billion—which highlight the company’s heavy spending on model training, data, and infrastructure. An IPO would give OpenAI more efficient access to capital to fund CEO Altman’s ambitions to spend “trillions” on AI infrastructure and enable larger acquisitions paid in stock, reshaping competitive dynamics across the compute and chip ecosystem. For the AI/ML community, public ownership could mean faster scaling of compute-intensive R&D but also greater investor scrutiny, disclosure requirements, and pressure to prioritize monetization. The final timing, amount raised, and valuation remain subject to business performance and market conditions, but a $1 trillion public listing would set a new benchmark for how AI companies finance massive model training and deployment at scale.