According to Reuters, the company plans to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of 2026, a move that could give it an unprecedented valuation of up to $1 trillion, making it one of the largest IPOs in history. This step comes after a broad legal restructuring, which transformed the company into a “public benefit corporation” that combines for-profit goals and a humanitarian mission.
In an official statement, a company spokesperson clarified that “an IPO is not our focus at the moment, as we are focused on building a solid business model that ensures that all of humanity benefits from general artificial intelligence.”
However, CEO Sam Altman revealed that OpenAI has committed to massive spending plans of $1.4 trillion to develop AI infrastructure in the coming years, making an IPO a key means of securing the necessary funding.
In parallel with this transformation, the company announced a new agreement with “Microsoft,” granting the American software giant a stake of approximately 27% of the new OpenAI, valued at more than $100 billion. The company’s current market value is estimated at $500 billion according to the latest sale of employee shares.
A report in the British newspaper The Guardian indicated that the restructuring paves the way for OpenAI to raise capital more easily, while its non-profit entity retains a supervisory role to ensure a balance between innovation and social responsibility.
Financial markets expert Mohammed Saeed believes that OpenAI’s move “constitutes a quantum leap in the world of technology,” explaining that “the potential public offering worth a trillion dollars will give the company enormous financial power to finance its massive projects.”
Saeed told the “Sky News Arabia Economy” website: “The goal of this offering is not limited to collecting liquidity, but rather to financing major strategic plans such as the Stargate project to build specialized artificial intelligence data centers at a cost that may reach hundreds of billions of dollars.”
He added: “This funding will allow OpenAI to accelerate its research towards achieving general artificial intelligence (AGI), and develop ambitious projects such as an independent automated researcher capable of managing entire scientific projects by 2028.”
For his part, information technology consultant Asim Jalal explained that the transformation into a public joint stock company will bring fundamental changes to the company’s orientations, saying: “OpenAI will face increasing pressure to achieve steady profits and raise revenue levels to meet investor expectations, which will push it to focus more on paid products and services, such as artificial intelligence solutions for companies.”
Jalal pointed out that “the commercial transformation may reduce some open or free research initiatives, but at the same time it will enhance the company’s ability to build strategic partnerships with governments and major institutions, within a more rigorous global regulatory and ethical framework.”
With this transformation, OpenAI is beginning a new chapter in its journey from a non-profit organization to a massive economic technological power, competing with industry giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
But observers believe that the biggest challenge facing the company will be in balancing its original humanitarian mission with market and shareholder pressures to achieve continuous financial profits.
One analyst summarizes the situation by saying: “OpenAI’s trillion-dollar bet will not only be tested by the numbers, but by its ability to prove that artificial intelligence can be a profitable and humane project at the same time.”
