In less than three years since the launch of its chatbot, ChatGPT, OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence research company, has achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeding $10 billion.
ARR is a key metric used by businesses to gauge their expected yearly income from subscription services or products. It is particularly relevant for evaluating firms operating on a subscription model, like SaaS (Software as a Service), as it reflects steady and cyclical income from existing customers.
An OpenAI spokesperson revealed that this financial figure includes revenue from consumer products, ChatGPT’s commercial offerings, and sales from its API (Application Programming Interface). However, it does not account for licensing revenue from Microsoft or other large transactions.
Last year, OpenAI’s ARR was approximately $5.5 billion, indicating a remarkable growth rate of nearly 80%. The company recently announced it now boasts 3 million paid commercial users, a significant increase from the 2 million reported in February.
Media analysts suggest that OpenAI’s latest financial data contextualizes its astonishing valuation, which is currently estimated at about 30 times its revenue. This underscores the expectations of some of its largest investors regarding high growth potential.
In March of this year, OpenAI completed a staggering $40 billion funding round, marking the largest private technology financing deal in history. Additionally, Japan’s SoftBank Group has reportedly replaced Microsoft as OpenAI’s primary financial backer.
Despite this shift, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman emphasized that Microsoft continues to provide substantial computational resources, expressing satisfaction with their collaboration. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged that while the partnership is evolving, it remains strong.
Recently, Apple announced at WWDC 25 that it will integrate OpenAI’s image generation functionality into its Image Playground feature, allowing ChatGPT to assist users with image adjustments.
According to sources close to the company, OpenAI aims to reach $125 billion in annual revenue by 2029. However, achieving such an ambitious growth rate will require considerable funding support, as OpenAI reported a loss of approximately $5 billion last year.
