OpenAI is contemplating delaying its initial public offering (IPO) until the following year. Earlier, market speculation hinted that OpenAI had covertly submitted an IPO application, aiming for a valuation as high as $1 trillion. The company has presented two listing scenarios to its advisors: one is to go public in 2027 with a valuation of $1 trillion; the other is to reduce the valuation to accelerate the listing timeline. Nevertheless, CEO Sam Altman has resolutely opposed any option with a valuation below $1 trillion, considering it unacceptable.

Since 2025, persistent rumors about OpenAI's IPO have emerged, yet the company has consistently refuted having any immediate intentions to go public. In October 2025, reports surfaced that OpenAI was gearing up for an IPO and intended to submit an application as early as the latter half of 2026. In response, the company clarified that an IPO was not its current priority and that no definitive date could be established. In November of the same year, the CFO explicitly stated that there were no IPO plans at present and that the company would concentrate on expansion. Altman also refuted setting a specific timeline.

In January 2026, reports suggested that OpenAI had expedited its IPO plans to outpace competitor Anthropic, with a valuation of roughly $500 billion at that time. The ambiguity surrounding the IPO timeline is also intertwined with regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. government. The Office of the National Cyber Director and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have requested that OpenAI roll out its next-generation AI models in stages, which has influenced the company's growth trajectory and profitability.

Over the past few years, OpenAI's valuation has witnessed explosive growth. In September 2023, during an employee stock sale, its valuation ranged from $80 billion to $90 billion, marking a threefold increase from its valuation at the beginning of the year. Now, striking a balance between the IPO timing window, regulatory adherence, and valuation expectations has emerged as the central challenge confronting Altman and the management team.