OpenAI has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, marking a pivotal step as it seeks a valuation of up to $1 trillion. The filing was reported on Monday, though the company did not disclose the size or terms of the planned listing. This move comes amid a broader AI IPO race, with Anthropic also filing confidentially and SpaceX pursuing what could be the largest offering in history.
According to internal plans reported by the Financial Times, OpenAI is simultaneously undertaking a major product overhaul codenamed "Aria." The redesign aims to transform ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into a "superapp" that consolidates coding tools, AI agents, and third-party integrations into a single interface. A senior employee was quoted saying, "Chat is dead," signaling a strategic pivot toward higher-margin products. The goal is to convert more of the platform's nearly 1 billion users—most of whom use it for free—into paying customers before the targeted Q4 2026 IPO.
The superapp initiative will bundle existing services like the Codex coding agent, which has grown sixfold to over 5 million weekly active users since February 2026, and the ChatGPT Agent, capable of autonomous web browsing and transactions. Workspace agents that run persistent workflows in Slack and other enterprise tools are also part of the consolidation. Thibault Sottiaux, head of core product and platform, said the vision is an assistant "capable of helping you across everything in your life."
Financially, OpenAI has reached annualized revenue of over $20 billion, with business customers accounting for 40% of that. The company disclosed more than 900 million weekly ChatGPT users and 50 million consumer subscribers earlier this year. In March, it reported $2 billion in monthly revenue, a sharp rise from about $1 billion in quarterly revenue at the end of 2024. The IPO filing follows a $110 billion funding round at an $840 billion valuation, backed by SoftBank, Amazon, and Nvidia.
Competitive pressure from Anthropic, which filed its own confidential IPO earlier and saw Claude Code revenue soar past $2.5 billion annually, is accelerating OpenAI's timeline. The company has also restructured its historic partnership with Microsoft, which invested $13 billion, to pursue deals with Amazon and Google. Legal uncertainties were reduced after a U.S. jury ruled in favor of OpenAI in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk in May. While the IPO could absorb significant capital from the market, analysts see it as a test of investor appetite for high-growth AI technology.
