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OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and now considered the world’s most valuable private firm, is urging the United States government to provide loan guarantees to support its vast and increasingly expensive plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which are set to exceed $1 trillion.
Speaking at a Wall Street Journal business conference, OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, said government support would help draw the massive volume of investment needed to build and maintain AI computing facilities, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding the lifespan of data centres. She said that financing could involve banks, private equity firms and potentially public authorities.
Friar argued that federal guarantees would significantly reduce borrowing costs for OpenAI and its backers by lowering interest rates and expanding access to capital. With government protection in place, lenders would be shielded in the event of a company default, making the arrangement more attractive to financial institutions that are usually constrained by high-risk lending rules.
The unusual approach for a prominent Silicon Valley firm comes at a time when OpenAI is spending heavily to scale up the infrastructure required to support its advanced AI models. Analysts have questioned how the company will generate enough revenue to justify such vast costs.
This year alone, OpenAI is understood to have committed around $1 trillion to infrastructure agreements, including a $300 billion collaboration with Oracle and the $500 billion Stargate project, also involving Oracle and SoftBank. Although the company expects annual revenues to reach tens of billions of dollars, the income remains dwarfed by the costs of powering its technology.
Friar also played down speculation that OpenAI could soon launch an initial public offering, insisting that a stock market debut is not currently planned. Reports had recently suggested the company was positioning itself for a listing after restructuring its governance model to allow public shareholdings.
