10x Growth in Three Years! OpenAI’s Annualized Revenue Surpasses $20 Billion, Shifting Focus to Practical Applications This Year
OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, stated in a blog post last Sunday that the company's annualized revenue run rate exceeded $20 billion in 2025, a significant jump from $6 billion in 2024. This growth in revenue is tightly correlated with the expansion of its compute scale.
This annualized figure represents a tenfold increase compared to the $2 billion recorded in 2023.
In her post, Friar noted that OpenAI's compute capacity surged from 0.6 gigawatts (GW) in 2024 to 1.9 GW in 2025. She also highlighted that both Weekly Active Users (WAU) and Daily Active Users (DAU) continue to hit all-time highs.
"This represents 'growth on a scale never seen before.' We firmly believe that deploying more computing resources during these periods will accelerate customer adoption and path to profitability," she wrote.
Last week, OpenAI announced it would begin displaying ads to select U.S. users within ChatGPT. This move aims to bolster revenue streams from the chatbot to help fund the astronomical costs associated with developing and maintaining the technology.
Despite the stellar growth, some investors and analysts remain concerned about OpenAI’s massive capital expenditures, questioning whether the startup can ever generate enough revenue to achieve true profitability. Over the past year, OpenAI has announced infrastructure partnership agreements totaling approximately $1.4 trillion.
On Monday, tech blogger Paul Kedrosky responded to Friar’s post with a biting critique of OpenAI’s business model. He remarked: "It’s funny to see a CFO brag about successfully selling dollars for 70 cents at a massive scale."
2026: The Year of "Practical Application"
Friar emphasized that OpenAI’s platform—which spans text, images, voice, code, and APIs—will enter its next phase with a focus on "Agents" and workflow automation. These technologies are designed to run continuously, maintain long-term context, and execute actions across various tools.
For 2026, Friar stated that the company will prioritize "practical applications," particularly in the healthcare, scientific research, and enterprise sectors.
"The current priority is to close the gap between what AI can do today and how it is actually applied daily by people, businesses, and nations," Friar wrote. "The opportunity is massive and immediate... where advanced intelligence can translate directly into better real-world outcomes."
Currently, OpenAI leads competitors like Anthropic and Google in the enterprise AI market. Data from the fintech firm Ramp shows that corporate adoption of OpenAI products reached a record high last December.
Furthermore, reports on Monday indicated that Chris Lehane, OpenAI's Head of Global Affairs, confirmed the company plans to release its first hardware device in the second half of 2026.