Multiple reports indicate that OpenAI, creator of Chat GPT, may delay its anticipated initial public offering until 2027. The AI firm has emerged as one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year. OpenAI filed confidentially with the SEC earlier this month.
The company is apparently seeking a $1 trillion valuation and is concerned it may need more time to hold that level. The company is also observing the SpaceX IPO, in which shares rocketed dramatically higher before losing momentum in the following weeks. SpaceX now trades around $151 per share after topping $225, following an IPO priced at $135 per share. Part of SpaceX’s pitch and sale was its participation in the burgeoning AI sector.
SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS), a publicly listed venture capital fund, says that OpenAI and other AI firms are different from SpaceX, which has benefited from its affiliation with the sector. Willy Lee, principal at SuRo Capital, says SpaceX’s core business is not artificial intelligence and large language models, but they could be part of the future; they are not there right now. Still, what SpaceX is doing is very smart as it wants to participate in the AI race.
“I think what people are mixing them up with is everyone’s asking, where’s the ROI from AI-LLM spend, so people are looking at SpaceX and saying, that’s not there, but if we’re in the private markets, we’re seeing Open AI, Anthropic, all these other private companies who have massive revenue increases year over year, and I think that’s where the real story is.”
He believes that OpenAI is waiting to have the SpaceX news and sentiment to be digested before it moves forward.
“OpenAI is actually testing [its valuation] that right now with their employee tender, and I’m not sure if all the employees at OpenAI want to sell shares at the last round valuation. I think the valuation is much higher than that. there’s testing of that right now, and I think what people will be surprised by is that valuations are much higher than that.”
OpenAI explains the possibility of pausing:
“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 gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
Meanwhile, Anthropic, the creator of Claude, remains in the IPO lineup for 2026. OpenAI’s market entry is unknown.
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