OpenAI thought to be preparing for $1T stock market float (www.theguardian.com)

OpenAI is reportedly preparing for a blockbuster IPO that could value the company near $1 trillion and potentially raise at least $60 billion, with filings possibly as early as the second half of 2026 or more likely in 2027. The plan follows a recent restructuring that converted its main business into a for‑profit entity (while remaining under a nonprofit parent), and comes after a deal that gave Microsoft roughly a 27% stake and implied a $500 billion valuation. OpenAI posted about $4.3 billion in revenue in H1 but an operating loss near $7.8 billion, underscoring heavy capital needs. CEO Sam Altman has signaled that an IPO is the “most likely path” to fund the scale‑up, including “trillions” in datacenter and infrastructure spending to support training and running large language models and OpenAI’s AGI ambitions. For the AI/ML community, a $1T float would be consequential: it would unlock vast new capital for compute‑intensive model development, data, and deployments, accelerating R&D and productionization of large models while concentrating influence among major investors. It also sharpens market and regulatory risks—authorities and economists have warned of an AI‑driven tech valuation bubble—while raising governance questions after the conversion to a for‑profit structure and Microsoft’s sizable stake. In short, the move would turbocharge resource availability for AI development but amplify financial and policy scrutiny of the sector.