OpenAI's Multi-Billion Dollar Growth Ambitions Unfulfilled, CFO Warns of $600 Billion Compute Bill Insolvency

According to Dynamix Beating monitoring, as reported exclusively by the WSJ, OpenAI has recently missed several internal growth targets. CFO Sarah Friar warned the management that if revenue growth does not keep up, the company may not be able to meet future compute contracts. The board has also been reviewing data center investments in recent months, questioning CEO Altman's strategy of scaling up compute power significantly amid a business slowdown.

Specifically, ChatGPT did not meet its internal year-end target of 1 billion weekly active users, and this number has not been disclosed to date; the latest weekly active user data reported by AP on April 16 was "over 900 million." ChatGPT also fell short of its annual revenue target, with Google's Gemini rapidly gaining market share by the end of last year. Earlier this year, OpenAI faced further competition in the programming and enterprise markets from Anthropic, resulting in several months of revenue below expectations. The company is also struggling with a high churn rate among its subscription users.

Altman secured a commitment for about $600 billion in compute power procurement last year. The company recently raised $122 billion in funding, marking the largest single round in Silicon Valley history. However, based on internal forecasts, even if revenue targets are met, this funding will only last for three years, with some funds being subject to conditions. Friar is also cautious about going public by the end of the year, believing that the company's internal control system has not yet met the standards of a public company; meanwhile, Altman is more inclined to accelerate the IPO process. The two issued a joint statement through the WSJ denying any differences, claiming to be "fully aligned" on "buying as much compute as possible," and dismissing the idea of reducing compute power as "absurd." The company's second-in-command, Fidji Simo, unexpectedly went on sick leave earlier this month, leaving a leadership vacuum.