WASHINGTON, October 12, 2026 – OpenAI anticipates that its revenue will hit or surpass the mark of $70 billion per year by the end of 2026. The prediction is based on the development of its enterprise business because the artificial intelligence company aims to make the adoption of its products by businesses a significant source of revenue.
It should be noted that there is one condition for this prediction: it refers to the year-end goal rather than to the report about OpenAI earning $70 billion in revenue. The news reported that its annualized revenue was about $50 billion at the end of September. The annualized revenue, or revenue run rate, calculates a year’s worth of sales from a shorter period of time.
A sharp contrast in reported figures
This can be seen as an explanation of the seeming contradiction in the reports about OpenAI’s revenue. On Oct. 8, it was reported that the company’s annualized revenue was at around $50 billion, lower than those mentioned in the earlier reports. The next day, the news indicated that OpenAI was looking forward to reaching or surpassing the mark of $70 billion by the end of the year. These figures are not one and the same; the former is a reported September run rate, whereas the latter is a projection until the end of 2026.
Another factor that may have confused was the calculation of revenue. As reported by Reuters, the discrepancy in the numbers between the earlier estimates and OpenAI’s number has something to do with attempts to compare the revenue of the company with another AI developer where the sale through cloud partners is counted differently. According to Reuters, OpenAI does not count, for instance, its revenue through cloud partners. This does not automatically mean that the company lost $20 billion in sales.
Enterprise growth in focus
According to the news, the forecasted growth is primarily due to OpenAI’s enterprise business, which involves sales to businesses. Investing.com also noted that enterprise growth was supposed to be the driving factor behind the forecast. The news does not offer a breakdown of the target by product or customer segment, so the contribution of business customers is uncertain.
The target is important not only in the context of OpenAI’s financial situation. Revenue run rates are an important indicator in the field of AI since they allow investors to estimate the demand for the products and the size of computing infrastructure that may be required. However, a rapid growth in the sales rate does not mean profitability, and according to Investing.com, OpenAI was still on track to lose money each year, showing the gap between growing revenues and the expenses of growth.
Currently, the most obvious interpretation is the September run rate of nearly $50 billion and the forecast of exceeding $70 billion by the end of the year. The forecast is ambitious, but it is a projection by people familiar with the matter, not a fact.
