OpenAI’s plan to go public as early as the fourth quarter of 2026 is already getting pushback from inside the company, with CFO Sarah Friar reportedly raising doubts about whether the ChatGPT maker is ready for an IPO and whether its spending plans make sense at all. The tension is easy to spot: a company racing toward public-market scale while still burning cash-like sums on AI infrastructure.
The Information reported that Friar told colleagues earlier this year she did not believe OpenAI would be prepared for an IPO in 2026, pointing to the organizational and procedural work still needed, along with the risks tied to the company’s commitments. She also reportedly questioned whether OpenAI really needs to spend so heavily on AI servers in the coming years, especially if revenue growth keeps slowing.
The $600 billion OpenAI IPO bet
Altman’s reported target is aggressive even by Silicon Valley standards: a public listing by the fourth quarter of 2026 and $600 billion in spending over five years. That sort of figure would put OpenAI in the same conversation as the biggest infrastructure buildouts in tech history, and it also explains why finance chiefs tend to get twitchy before bankers do.
There’s a broader market reason for the friction. AI companies are being asked to justify enormous compute bills at the same time investors are becoming less patient with growth-at-any-cost stories. OpenAI recently closed a funding round with $122 billion in committed capital, valuing the company at $852 billion, which helps explain the confidence – and the pressure to show that the math eventually works.
OpenAI revenue is rising, but so is the bill
OpenAI is generating about $2 billion in revenue per month, according to the report. That is an impressive number on paper, but it still leaves the company carrying the kind of spending obligations that can overwhelm even fast-growing revenue if the infrastructure appetite keeps expanding faster than usage pays for it.
- IPO target: as early as the fourth quarter of 2026
- Planned spending: $600 billion over five years
- Recent funding: $122 billion in committed capital
- Valuation: $852 billion
- Revenue: about $2 billion per month
Why the internal skepticism matters
The report does not say OpenAI has abandoned its public-market ambitions, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But CFO skepticism is rarely a decorative detail. When the person responsible for the numbers is openly worried about readiness and spending discipline, that usually means the IPO story is still being argued over, not polished for roadshow day.
If OpenAI keeps pushing toward a listing, the next few months will likely be about proving that its revenue can keep pace with its appetite for servers, chips, and everything else needed to keep the model train running. If it cannot, 2026 may turn out to be less of a debut and more of a deadline.