On July 31st, according to informed sources, OpenAI's revenue in the first seven months of 2025 has nearly doubled, with an annualized revenue reaching $12 billion. This means that OpenAI's monthly revenue has risen from approximately $500 million at the beginning of the year to $1 billion currently.
Annualized revenue is a financial indicator used to estimate the total revenue a company might generate in a year, based on current data and trends.
OpenAI's rapid growth in annualized revenue is primarily due to the surge in ChatGPT users. Currently, the product has over 700 million weekly active users, a significant increase from the 500 million weekly active users across all products reported in late March.
More and more businesses and individuals are now paying to use OpenAI's chatbot services, including programming functions. At this growth rate, OpenAI is likely to exceed its set revenue target of $12.7 billion in 2025. In comparison, OpenAI's revenue in 2024 was approximately $4 billion.
Caption: Annualized revenue of 22 AI application or model startups
However, rapid user growth has also driven up costs. Informed sources reveal that OpenAI has raised its expected cash consumption for 2025 to $8 billion, an increase of $1 billion from the beginning of the year. This suggests that OpenAI may increase its budget for server rentals in 2025, estimated to reach $14 billion.
Previously, there were reports that OpenAI is advancing its record $40 billion financing plan, with a pre-financing valuation of $260 billion. The financing plan is to be completed in two rounds of $10 billion and $30 billion. After completing the first round of $10 billion in June this year, OpenAI is currently seeking investors for the second round.
The second round of financing is divided into two parts, with $7.5 billion to be subscribed by existing shareholders and other venture capital firms. Institutions participating in this round are required to invest at least $500 million. Existing shareholders Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global have added several hundred million dollars, while Dragoneer and Founders Fund have confirmed their participation.
As the lead investor, SoftBank has promised to cover the remaining $22.5 billion, on the condition that OpenAI completes a corporate restructuring by the end of 2025 or early 2026, making its profitable business segment ready for listing.
Currently, OpenAI is negotiating specific restructuring terms with its largest external shareholder, Microsoft.
OpenAI is aggressively expanding into the enterprise market through multiple initiatives. The company has recently launched a customized version of ChatGPT's deep research function that can automatically generate comprehensive analysis reports. Additionally, OpenAI is offering time-limited discounts for enterprise customers, with enterprise versions of ChatGPT receiving 10%-20% price reductions.
Notably, OpenAI added spreadsheet and presentation editing functions for its subscription users in July, potentially directly challenging Microsoft and Google's market positions.
Meanwhile, OpenAI's main competitor Anthropic is also showing strong growth. The latest data shows its annualized revenue has exceeded $4 billion, a near 300% increase from the beginning of the year. Anthropic is currently preparing for a new round of financing, with an expected valuation of $170 billion, doubling its early-year valuation.
Financial data shows that Anthropic expects operational expenses of around $3 billion this year (compared to $5.6 billion last year). The company's management predicts that with its leading advantage in AI programming assistants, its annualized revenue could exceed $12 billion by 2026.
This article is from "Tencent Technology", authored by Jin Lu, and published by 36Kr with authorization.
