OpenAI spent $34 billion in 2025 and posted a net loss of $39 billion, according to financial figures reported by the Financial Times and covered widely ahead of the company's planned initial public offering. The spending figure represents a dramatic increase from the prior year, according to The Decoder.
The numbers appear to have surfaced before OpenAI formally disclosed them to the public — Yahoo Finance described the figures as "leaked ahead of IPO," raising questions about how the information reached the market.
For context, the losses dwarf what most technology companies burn even in their most aggressive growth phases. According to Yahoo Finance, the figures are already being compared to rival AI startup Anthropic, as well as Elon Musk's SpaceX — a sign that investors will be sizing up OpenAI against other high-profile, pre-profitability ventures when evaluating its public market debut.
Yahoo Finance noted that the figures "are likely to face close scrutiny from investors, especially if OpenAI and Anthropic launch IPOs around the same time" — a scenario that could put both companies' financials under simultaneous public examination.
OpenAI's losses stem largely from the enormous cost of training and running large AI models, as well as infrastructure buildout. The company behind ChatGPT has been on an aggressive expansion, securing massive investment rounds even as its expenses have outpaced revenue.
Why it matters: A $39 billion loss is a stark reminder that even the most prominent AI company in the world is spending far faster than it earns — and the public markets will soon have to decide whether that bet is worth making.