Meanwhile, OpenAI recently detailed its own ambitions with plans to deploy more than $1 trillion in its operations during the next decade. We’re primarily looking to grow our social impact investments and deepen our footprints and expertise in such sectors. Such as government contracts, consumer hardware, shopping tools, video services. Given the shift in focus of this very aggressive spending strategy, questions abound as to what impact it will have on the overall U.S. market.
That five-year plan is clearly aimed at diversifying OpenAI’s offerings, but more so its largescale computing capacity. Powering this expansion, OpenAI has signed agreements for more than 26 gigawatts worth of computing capacity. Oracle, Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom are among the major industry players providing that essential infrastructure. This substantial investment in infrastructure is designed to position OpenAI as a leading computing supplier through its Stargate data center project.
OpenAI is already doing an estimated $13 billion in yearly revenue, most of it coming from consumer subscriptions. Approximately 70% of this revenue comes from everyday users who pay $20 per month to access ChatGPT, which has gained a massive following with around 800 million regular users. Only 5% of these users are paying subscribers, meaning there’s plenty of room to grow revenue as they expand their services.
The broader arc of the company’s strategy revolves around pursuing government contracts as a way to deepen its financial base and market influence. This shrewd maneuver would not only make OpenAI much more stable, but allow it to have potentially outsized effects on government operations and AI policy.
Beyond looking for new and improved governmental partners, OpenAI has made clear their intentions to roll out more consumer-facing, private sector associated products and services. Shopping features and video services have been recently added to bring in a more diverse viewership. This lofty shift promises to deliver exciting new solutions to old common challenges. All of these offerings should appeal to the individual consumer and business traveler as well.
While these advancements are promising, analysts are raising concerns about what it means to make such large financial commitments. Further, OpenAI’s massive spending can be particularly destabilizing to the broader U.S. market. It has profound implications in talent, public sector, private sector, economic development, land use, environment, and beyond.
