OpenAI First-Half Revenue Hits $6 Trillion, Up 16% From Last Year

"Most of the Spending Allocated to AI Research and ChatGPT Operations"

OpenAI, the developer of the conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agent ChatGPT, reportedly generated $4.3 billion (approximately 6 trillion won) in revenue in the first half of this year.

Reuters, citing a report from the IT-focused media outlet The Information, reported this on September 29 (local time). The news agency added that this figure represents an increase of about 16% compared to last year’s annual revenue.

According to The Information, most of the $2.5 billion (about 3.5 trillion won) spent in the first half of the year was used for AI research and development and the operation of ChatGPT.

Research and development expenses amounted to $6.7 billion (about 9.4 trillion won). As of the end of June, the company’s cash and marketable securities holdings stood at approximately $17.5 billion (about 25 trillion won).

OpenAI is expected to achieve both its annual revenue target of $13 billion (about 18 trillion won) and its cash burn target of $8.5 billion this year.

Robust revenue growth had been anticipated. OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar stated in an interview with CNBC in August that, as of July this year, OpenAI’s monthly revenue surpassed $1 billion for the first time in its history.

Meanwhile, Nvidia announced last week that it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply data center chips.