OpenAI Faces Funding Needs Amid Global AI Expansion

(MENAFN) OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, might have to secure over $200 billion by 2030 to maintain its operations, according to research from HSBC cited by multiple media outlets. The funding is required to support the company’s growth as computing expenses rise during an intensifying and increasingly competitive worldwide AI race.

The newly updated research model from HSBC, shared with clients this week, comes after OpenAI’s recent long-term cloud and compute contracts with Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle.

Even assuming optimistic growth, the bank’s model indicates that OpenAI could face a financing shortfall of around $207 billion by 2030, despite projected revenues of $129 billion.

According to HSBC, OpenAI’s cumulative cloud rental expenses could reach approximately $800 billion by 2030. The research also anticipates rapid user expansion, predicting that ChatGPT might reach 3 billion regular users by the end of the decade, up from roughly 800 million last month — representing about 44% of adults worldwide outside China.

Since ChatGPT’s launch three years ago, OpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI surge, attracting significant investor attention while major tech firms invest tens of billions into data centers and advanced chips.

Some analysts caution that the rapid spending could be forming a bubble, with expenditures outpacing returns, raising risks not only for OpenAI but also for the large technology companies supporting its growth.

Tech firms are racing to keep up with ChatGPT-like platforms, which have challenged their dominance in online search and pushed sector-wide investment to unprecedented levels.

In October, OpenAI surpassed Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s most valuable private company, following a $6.6 billion employee share sale that placed its valuation at around $500 billion.

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