OpenAI may push IPO to next year: What's behind the delay?

OpenAI is leaning toward postponing its initial public offering (IPO) until next year, rather than getting listed later this year, The New York Times reported, citing people aware of the matter. This move comes amid SpaceX’s rocky debut and a broader slump in technology stocks.

According to the report, the ChatGPT maker had hired bankers and lawyers to prepare for a public offering as early as the third or fourth quarter of this year. The sources also told the news publication that chief executive officer Sam Altman had also asked advisors to explore ways to secure a $1 trillion valuation for OpenAI, significantly higher than its last private valuation of $730 billion.

What spooked OpenAI into delaying its IPO?

A series of recent developments has prompted OpenAI to reconsider its public offering timeline. Among the key factors is the weak post-liating performance of SpaceX, whose shares have fallen sharply since its record-breaking IPO.

Elon Musk's AI-to-rockets company raised more than $85 billion and reached a valuation of $1.77 trillion on its debut. But since then, SpaceX’s shares have slumped to $153 at the end of the trading day on Thursday after reaching a high of $202 last week.

Global markets have also been volatile in recent weeks, with technology stocks dragging down indexes as investors question whether artificial intelligence companies will live up to their promises and justify their lofty valuations. This factor has also weighed on OpenAI's plan for a public listing this year.

That has caused the company's advisers, in conversations with the company over the past week, to caution that it may not find much enthusiasm from retail investors for its own shares, two of the people involved told the publication.

IPO delay could disappoint Wall Street

OpenAI’s reported decision to slow its IPO plans could disappoint Wall Street and Silicon Valley who are hoping for one of the biggest public listings in recent years. A market debut by OpenAI and its rival Anthropic, is expected to unleash a wave of generational wealth.

Although OpenAI said earlier this month that it had confidentially filed paperwork with US securities regulators to begin the IPO process, the company did not commit to a timeline for going public.

A $1 trillion valuation in the public market would be staggering for OpenAI, surpassing the market capitalization of Walmart. This would be a milestone for the startup especially as is not believed to have turned a profit and is aggressively spending on new data centers, the publication noted.

An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment on publication's queries beyond the company’s earlier statement.

GPT 5.6 AI rollout delay

In other development, OpenAI has reportedly delayed the rollout of its upcoming GPT 5.6 AI model after the US government asked the company to first make it available to a limited group of trusted partners.

CEO Altman told employees during an internal meeting that the Trump administration had requested a staggered launch for the GPT 5.6 model, Bloomberg News reported. The OpenAI executive reportedly told his staff that the US government has grown more anxious about the capabilities of advanced artificial intelligence models.