NEW YORK, United States — OpenAI announced on Monday, June 8, 2026, that it had submitted a confidential filing for an initial public offering.
The move joins its chief rival Anthropic in a push toward public markets as the artificial intelligence industry’s investment race reaches new heights.
“We recently submitted a confidential S-1,” the company said in a post on X.
“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.”
The company added that the filing “gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
OpenAI’s move comes one week after Anthropic filed for its own public offering on June 1.
We recently submitted a confidential S-1. We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it. We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this…
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) June 8, 2026
Both companies are expected to be among the largest IPOs of the year, following SpaceX’s anticipated trillion-dollar-plus stock market debut, which is scheduled for Friday.
Elon Musk’s rocket company also has significant interests in artificial intelligence through its xAI subsidiary.
Valuations and Finances
OpenAI’s valuation reached $852 billion in March after the company raised $122 billion in fresh capital to fund its expanding ambitions.
That money is being directed toward the development of advanced AI models as well as the data centre infrastructure and cloud computing capacity required to support them.
Anthropic, meanwhile, was valued at $952 billion in its most recent funding round.
OpenAI’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, has said the company intends to reserve a portion of its eventual stock offering for retail investors.
“Everybody wants to own part of a rocket company — I hope everyone wants to own part of ChatGPT,” Friar told CNBC. “It helps when you’re a consumer brand.”
Headwinds and Competition
Despite its prominence, OpenAI has faced a turbulent period.
The company has reportedly missed internal revenue and user targets amid intensifying competition from Anthropic and Google, whose Gemini AI model has grown in popularity.
Last month, OpenAI emerged from a contentious legal dispute with Musk, who had sued the company as it sought to convert from a nonprofit structure.
OpenAI has also faced a series of lawsuits alleging that its ChatGPT application has caused harm to young users. The company has denied those claims.
ChatGPT, which launched in late 2022, has accumulated hundreds of millions of downloads since its release, making OpenAI one of the most recognised names in consumer technology.
