OpenAI’s flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, has seen a staggering 400% surge in users over the past year, reflecting the booming demand for AI tools—but the company is still playing catch-up with tech giants like Google.
Business Adoption Hits Major Milestone
ChatGPT now boasts five million paying business users, up from three million just two months ago, according to new figures from OpenAI. The spike reflects growing institutional confidence in generative AI, particularly among enterprises and educational institutions incorporating AI tools into workflows and curriculums.
Yet in the broader AI landscape, OpenAI’s reach still pales in comparison to Alphabet’s offerings. Google’s AI Overviews—a tool embedded in search results—serves roughly two billion users every month. Meanwhile, the Gemini AI app, Google’s direct competitor to ChatGPT, reports 450 million monthly active users.
Revenues Climb, Valuation Skyrockets
OpenAI’s financial growth is mirroring its user expansion. Annual recurring revenue has reached $13 billion—up from $10 billion in June—and the company is projecting it could surpass $20 billion by year-end.
That kind of momentum has helped OpenAI secure a massive $8.3 billion funding injection from major players like Andreessen Horowitz, Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, and Altimeter. The investment was part of a larger $40 billion raise led by SoftBank that reportedly closed well ahead of schedule—oversubscribed by a factor of five.
OpenAI’s current valuation has now climbed to a jaw-dropping $300 billion.
Massive Infrastructure Projects Signal AI Arms Race
With cash in hand, OpenAI is doubling down on infrastructure. Through its Stargate project, a joint venture with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, the company plans to pour up to $500 billion over the next four years into data centers and computing power—essential fuel for AI advancement.
As part of that, OpenAI has inked a $30 billion annual lease with Oracle for 4.5 gigawatts of U.S. data center capacity. It has also committed $11.9 billion over five years to cloud provider CoreWeave. Additional facilities are in the pipeline in Norway and Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with G42, a tech firm backed by the UAE government.
Rivals Are Not Sitting Still
Competitors are ramping up, too. Anthropic, an OpenAI rival, is reportedly closing in on a $5 billion raise at a $170 billion valuation—less than a year after pulling in $3.5 billion. A leaked memo from CEO Dario Amodei reveals that Gulf sovereign wealth funds have become a key source of strategic capital as the AI race intensifies.
