OpenAI's CFO published detailed financials showing a near-linear relationship between compute capacity and revenue: ~$10B per gigawatt, consistent across 2023-2025.
Key numbers:
- 2023: 0.2 GW compute, $2B revenue
- 2024: 0.6 GW compute, $6B revenue
- 2025: 1.9 GW compute, $20B+ revenue
They're introducing ads to ChatGPT's free tier (Altman previously called AI ads "uniquely unsettling"). Still burning ~$9B/year with profitability targeted for 2029-2030.
The business model is essentially: subscriptions + API + ads + healthcare vertical + commerce. They're speedrunning what took Google/Meta a decade.
Interesting strategic detail: they're diversifying compute providers away from Microsoft dependency, which explains the Stargate project with SoftBank.
Key numbers:
- 2023: 0.2 GW compute, $2B revenue
- 2024: 0.6 GW compute, $6B revenue
- 2025: 1.9 GW compute, $20B+ revenue
They're introducing ads to ChatGPT's free tier (Altman previously called AI ads "uniquely unsettling"). Still burning ~$9B/year with profitability targeted for 2029-2030.
The business model is essentially: subscriptions + API + ads + healthcare vertical + commerce. They're speedrunning what took Google/Meta a decade.
Interesting strategic detail: they're diversifying compute providers away from Microsoft dependency, which explains the Stargate project with SoftBank.