OpenAI announced a sweeping restructuring deal Tuesday that transforms the ChatGPT maker into a public benefit corporation, clearing the path toward an initial public offering (IPO) and freeing the artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer from constraints that have limited its growth since its 2019 partnership with Microsoft Corp.
The restructured $500 billion company will be controlled by a nonprofit foundation that maintains a financial stake in OpenAI’s success. CEO Sam Altman told viewers in a livestream that going public represents the most likely path forward, given the massive capital requirements for training and building advanced AI systems. OpenAI is eyeing an IPO as early as 2027, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“We can now take this technology and this user base and this sort of framework we’ve built and get the whole world to build amazing new companies and services and applications on top of it,” Altman said.
The restructuring gives OpenAI greater flexibility to raise capital, strike deals, and shape the AI industry’s future while addressing ongoing concerns about transparency, data usage, and safety oversight.
More important, the deal could lighten tensions that emerged after ChatGPT’s explosive growth three years ago exposed limitations in OpenAI’s original structure. Microsoft will retain a 27% stake valued at approximately $135 billion — nearly 10 times its $13.8 billion investment — and the companies will remain intertwined through at least 2032 via a major cloud computing contract.
Under the new arrangement, OpenAI has committed to purchasing $250 billion in Azure cloud services from Microsoft. In return, Microsoft relinquishes its exclusive right to provide computing resources to OpenAI and loses first-refusal rights on consumer hardware products.
The companies will continue sharing revenue, with OpenAI paying Microsoft roughly 20% of its earnings for years to come. However, this revenue-sharing agreement will end once an independent panel determines OpenAI has achieved artificial general intelligence, the point at which AI systems can match well-educated human adults across cognitive tasks.
Altman revealed staggering infrastructure ambitions, citing $1.4 trillion in financial obligations to build approximately 30 gigawatts of data-center capacity over the coming years. Looking further ahead, he envisions data centers producing one gigawatt of power weekly, with costs reduced from $50 billion to $20 billion per gigawatt.
Notably, Altman will not receive equity in the restructured company, contrary to earlier discussions. He continues drawing an annual salary of approximately $76,000 from OpenAI.
