Investors' Confidence in OpenAI's Valuation Wavers Amid Future Uncertainty

OpenAI's $852bn Valuation Under Scrutiny as Company Shifts Focus

OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence firm, is facing increasing scrutiny from its investors as it repositions its strategy to focus more on enterprise customers and counter rising competition from rival Anthropic. According to a Financial Times investigation, a string of recent deals, internal shifts, and abandoned initiatives point to a deliberate repositioning by the company to defend its dominance in the consumer market while aggressively chasing higher-margin corporate AI tools.

A Shift in Focus

The company is reportedly reshaping its strategy to prioritize enterprise customers, a move that is raising concerns among some backers about whether OpenAI is stretching itself too thin at a critical moment. As the company prepares for a potential blockbuster IPO as early as this year, investors are questioning whether the pivot risks diluting OpenAI's strongest asset, its massive consumer base of 1 billion users, which is growing at a rate of 50-100% per year.

Read also: SpaceX Seeks Record $75 Billion IPO, Potentially Positioning Elon Musk as the World's First Trillionaire

Investor Concerns

Some early investors have expressed concerns that OpenAI's focus on enterprise is a distraction from its core business. "You have ChatGPT, a 1 billion-user business growing 50-100% a year, what are you doing talking about enterprise and code?" one investor told the FT. "It's a deeply unfocused company." Despite these concerns, OpenAI leadership maintains confidence in its direction, with Chief Executive Sam Altman securing $122 billion in fresh funding from global investors.

Anthropic's Rise Forces Rethink

The urgency behind OpenAI's strategy shift is closely tied to Anthropic's rapid growth. According to the FT, Anthropic's annualized revenue surged from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $30 billion by March 2026, driven largely by demand for its coding-focused AI tools. OpenAI, by comparison, hit $25 billion in annualized revenue in February, although differences in accounting methods make direct comparisons difficult.

Read also: Treasury Yields Experience Largest Increase in Two Weeks Following Release of Labor Market Data

IPO Math Becomes Harder to Justify

The FT report says some investors backing both companies are beginning to reassess valuations. One investor told the newspaper that underwriting OpenAI's latest funding round would require assuming a future IPO valuation of at least $1.2 trillion, a target that is becoming harder to justify as Anthropic offers a cheaper entry point, with a recent valuation of about $380 billion.

Strategy Reset

Internally, OpenAI has been trying to rein in what some executives describe as a proliferation of "side projects." Altman reportedly issued a "code red" late last year, urging teams to focus on core priorities. The company has also pulled back from several high-profile initiatives, including shutting down its video-generation tool Sora and mothballing an "adult" chatbot.

Enterprise Push Gathers Pace

Even as it cuts back elsewhere, OpenAI is doubling down on enterprise. The company plans to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 by year-end and expects businesses to account for about half of its revenue, up from roughly 40% today. A key part of that push is Codex, its AI coding tool, which multiple people familiar with the strategy said could eventually take precedence over ChatGPT.

Infrastructure Edge

Despite the competitive pressure, OpenAI retains an advantage in computing power, a critical factor in AI development. The company told investors it has secured access to 8 gigawatts of compute capacity and aims to scale that to 30 GW by 2030, a milestone it claims Anthropic will not reach until 2027.