OpenAI’s annualised revenue is reportedly about $20 billion below earlier estimates, raising fresh questions about the pace of growth at one of the world’s most closely watched artificial intelligence companies.
According to the Financial Times, OpenAI’s annualised revenue reached roughly $50 billion as of September, significantly below the $70 billion figure previously cited by investors and media reports.
The sharp difference appears to have resulted largely from how investors calculated the company’s annualised revenue rather than from a sudden collapse in sales.
Annualised revenue is calculated by taking revenue generated over a particular period and projecting it across a full year.
However, OpenAI and rival AI company Anthropic use different approaches in calculating the figure, according to the Financial Times.
Investors initially estimated that OpenAI’s revenue had reached about $40 billion in August.
When OpenAI subsequently told investors that its revenue had grown by 70 per cent, some investors added the growth rate to the earlier estimate and arrived at approximately $70 billion.
The figure was subsequently reported as OpenAI’s annualised revenue, despite the difference in methodology.
The latest estimate puts the company’s annualised revenue closer to $50 billion.
At approximately $50 billion, OpenAI’s annualised revenue would be below Anthropic’s reported $65 billion.
The development adds another dimension to the increasingly intense competition between the two AI companies, both of which are targeting corporate customers with AI assistants, coding tools and autonomous agents.
OpenAI has continued to invest heavily in expanding its commercial business as competition in the generative AI market intensifies.
The company recently held its annual developers conference, where it introduced new AI agents aimed at enterprise users and unveiled its latest model.
The revenue figures are attracting particular attention because of growing expectations around potential stock-market listings by the leading AI companies.
OpenAI is widely expected to pursue an initial public offering in early 2027, while Anthropic is reportedly considering a public listing before the end of 2026.
For investors, revenue growth will be a critical measure of whether the enormous capital being poured into AI is translating into sustainable commercial returns.
The latest figures do not necessarily indicate that OpenAI’s business is weakening. Rather, they highlight the difficulty of comparing rapidly growing private technology companies when revenue definitions and annualisation methods differ.
Still, the $20 billion gap between the earlier estimate and the latest reported figure could influence how investors assess the relative strength and valuation prospects of OpenAI and Anthropic as the AI race moves into its next phase.
