OpenAI could be IPO-ready by 2027, says president

OpenAI could be ready to go public by 2027, according to company President Greg Brockman. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal tech conference, Brockman pointed to OpenAI's momentum in the enterprise market, where the company faces competition from rival Anthropic, which has already gained ground with business customers. His comment does not mean an IPO is certain, but it signals that OpenAI is thinking about public-market readiness while continuing to spend heavily on frontier model development and infrastructure. An IPO would be a landmark event for the AI industry. OpenAI is one of the most prominent AI labs, and a listing would give public investors a direct way to value the company and, by extension, parts of the frontier AI sector. It could also reshape how competitors, suppliers, and customers think about the financial pressures behind advanced AI. Building and running large models requires enormous capital, from chips and data centers to energy and talent. Public markets could provide access to more capital, but they also bring quarterly scrutiny and demands for clearer financial disclosure. Brockman's timeline suggests OpenAI is preparing for that possibility, even as it remains deeply invested in expensive research and infrastructure. The company would need to demonstrate durable revenue growth and a credible path to profitability to satisfy public investors. Its enterprise business is central to that story, especially as competition intensifies. For now, the 2027 target is a signal rather than a commitment. It shows that OpenAI is considering how a public listing might fit into its long-term strategy, and it raises the question of whether the AI boom will produce a new generation of publicly traded frontier labs.