OpenAI Annual Revenue Hits $37 Billion | A $1 Trillion IPO by 2027
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2026年4月26日・25分で読める
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"Is the AI boom actually making money?" — A piece of news has arrived that puts that question to rest.
OpenAI has surpassed $25 billion in annualized revenue (approx. ¥3.75 trillion) and is moving in earnest toward what could be one of the largest IPOs in history.
Meanwhile, rival Anthropic doubled its revenue in just three months.
The flow of money through the AI industry is now at a historic turning point.
According to a March 2026 scoop by U.S. business publication The Information, OpenAI achieved $25 billion in annualized revenue (approx. ¥3.75 trillion) as of the end of February 2026. That represents a blistering +17% jump from $21.4 billion at the end of 2025 — in just two months.
"Annualized Revenue (ARR)" here refers to a projected figure calculated by multiplying the most recent month's revenue by 12.
Think of it as: "We made ¥1 million last month, so at this rate we're on track for ¥12 million a year."
It's a metric commonly used in the software industry, where monthly subscriptions dominate, and it reflects the true run-rate performance of subscription-based services like OpenAI's.
What's striking is the pace of growth.
OpenAI reached $25 billion in ARR just 39 months after launching ChatGPT in November 2022.
That is the fastest such milestone ever achieved by a software company.
Imagine a sushi restaurant that records ¥3.7 trillion in annual sales just three years after opening.
Microsoft, Google, and Amazon never grew this fast.
Roughly half of revenue comes from enterprise (B2B) customers, and the other half from individual users (ChatGPT Plus and Pro).
The fastest-growing segment is ChatGPT Business/Enterprise, as major corporations around the world roll it out company-wide.
In Japan too, organizations such as MUFG, Panasonic, and Recruit have adopted it at scale.
Companies where "employees are suddenly using ChatGPT for work across the board" are multiplying rapidly.
It's not just OpenAI.
Rival Anthropic (the maker of Claude) also reached $19 billion in annualized revenue (approx. ¥2.85 trillion) in March 2026 — a stunning +111% (roughly 2.1×) from $9 billion at the end of 2025, achieved in just three months.
Some reports suggest it hit $30 billion (approx. ¥4.5 trillion) as of April, which would mean it may have already surpassed OpenAI in headline numbers.
However, there is a trap in how "revenue" is counted here. When tokens (usage rights to AI models) are sold through cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, OpenAI books only its own cut (roughly 20%) as revenue, while Anthropic books the full amount paid by the customer.
Picture it this way: "When a ¥1,000 order comes through Uber Eats, the OpenAI method books only the ¥200 fee as revenue, while the Anthropic method books the full ¥1,000." Anthropic's numbers look larger by this approach, but that doesn't necessarily mean more profit ends up in its hands.
Another key difference lies in the customer base.
Around 80% of Anthropic's revenue comes from enterprise customers, with coding AI "Claude Code" and developer-focused API revenue as its core.
OpenAI, by contrast, derives roughly half its revenue from individual ChatGPT Plus/Pro users, giving it a more versatile business model.
"Anthropic for stability, OpenAI for growth potential" — that's how investors are increasingly drawing the distinction.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar (formerly CFO of Square and Nextdoor) has outlined the following plan to insiders:
In the largest-ever private fundraising round, which closed on March 31, 2026 ($122 billion), OpenAI's valuation rose to $852 billion (approx. ¥128 trillion). That exceeds the combined market capitalization of Ford, GM, and Boeing — a remarkable fact that underscores how an unlisted company has already surpassed some of the world's largest automakers and aerospace firms.
In preparation for the IPO, OpenAI is converting to a "Public Benefit Corporation" structure.
This is a hybrid U.S. corporate form that pursues both shareholder interests and a social mission.
It is a carefully crafted compromise designed to balance concerns about AI safety with the demands of public markets — a structure also used by Patagonia and Kickstarter.
Despite its impressive revenue, OpenAI is burning through cash at an extraordinary rate.
Yet the market remains exuberant, driven by the belief that "AI infrastructure is winner-take-all — whoever builds it first wins."
Data centers, GPUs, and power capacity must be locked in years in advance to meet future demand surges.
It's like a highway: "Revenue from tolls only starts once the road is finished, but you're running at a loss the entire time it's being built."
Investors are accepting short-term losses in order to claim a position as a leading AI company of the 2030s.
The AI monetization race naturally includes not just OpenAI and Anthropic, but the major tech giants as well.
Noteworthy is the fact that OpenAI — as a standalone company — is already generating roughly 60% of Microsoft's entire cloud AI revenue purely from AI. The financial muscle to compete on AI as an independent entity is what sets it decisively apart.
If OpenAI lists on the NYSE or Nasdaq in 2027, Japanese retail investors will be able to purchase shares one unit at a time through brokerages that offer U.S. stock trading, such as SBI Securities, Rakuten Securities, and Monex Securities. Since CFO Sarah Friar has explicitly stated that a retail allocation will be made available, there may also be opportunities to buy in at the IPO price.
Once OpenAI becomes a publicly listed company, its financials and roadmap will be disclosed every quarter.
For Japanese companies that have integrated ChatGPT into their operations, this is good news.
It will be easier to anticipate when API pricing might change and when the next model will be released, making it simpler to incorporate into business planning.
On the other hand, domestic AI players — NTT's "tsuzumi," Preferred Networks, rinna, Stockmark, and others — face a hopelessly uneven playing field in terms of capital scale.
OpenAI's annual loss tolerance alone ($14 billion / approx. ¥2.1 trillion) may exceed the total revenue of Japan's entire AI industry.
Whether the government's GENIAC (AI Development Infrastructure Support) budget can keep pace will be a key policy question to watch in the second half of 2026.
A. No — it is running at a substantial loss. The projected loss for 2026 alone is $14 billion (approx. ¥2.1 trillion), with daily cash consumption exceeding $150 million. Keep in mind that the $25 billion figure refers to revenue, not profit. Profitability is expected sometime between 2028 and 2029, though whether the company will hit that timeline remains uncertain.
A. Once it lists in 2027, purchasing will become possible. A listing on the NYSE or Nasdaq would allow Japanese investors to buy shares one unit at a time through brokerages such as SBI Securities, Rakuten Securities, and Monex Securities. Until then, indirect options include unlisted stock funds, or investing in Microsoft or SoftBank, both of which hold OpenAI equity.
A. By some reports, Anthropic has reached $30 billion in revenue, so in headline terms one could say it has overtaken OpenAI — but a direct comparison is not straightforward. Anthropic uses "gross accounting," booking the full amount paid by customers, while OpenAI uses "net accounting," booking only its own share. A fair-minded assessment would call the two companies roughly equal in underlying earnings power.
A. It is entirely plausible if growth rates are maintained. The current valuation stands at $852 billion (approx. ¥128 trillion), and if revenue reaches around $50 billion by 2027, a price-to-sales ratio of 20× would put the company at $1 trillion. That said, competitive risks — including the rise of Chinese AI companies and the wider adoption of proprietary models — remain real, and a swing of 10–20% in either direction is possible.
A. It is significant. Competing with OpenAI's fundraising capacity and R&D budget is practically impossible. For Japanese companies to survive, niche strategies that OpenAI cannot easily encroach on — such as industry-specific, Japanese-language-specific, or security-specific approaches — will be essential. Rather than competing on every front, the key is deciding which market to defend and fighting there.
The AI industry has transformed from "a technology of dreams" into a real, operating business.
OpenAI's $1 trillion IPO is set to become the official opening ceremony of the AI era.
Your company's strategy and your investment decisions are both worth updating right now, in light of this turning point.
This article is a cross-post from AI Friends.
