OpenAI files confidential IPO paperwork, joining AI rivals in Wall Street race
OpenAI files confidential IPO paperwork, joining AI rivals in Wall Street race
OpenAI has taken the first formal step toward a Wall Street debut, filing confidential paperwork with U.S. regulators on Monday to become the third artificial-intelligence giant in a fortnight to pursue an initial public offering. The move places the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Anthropic, which submitted its own preliminary filings a week earlier, and with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose $1.78 trillion valuation is set to be tested when its shares begin trading this Friday.
OpenAI did not disclose timing or financial terms in its SEC filing, but the company confirmed the confidential submission in a statement to international media . Analysts now expect Wall Street to scrutinise the trio’s valuations—each in the hundreds of billions of dollars—against the backdrop of an AI investment frenzy that has already driven global tech multiples to historic highs. “The market appetite for AI exposure remains voracious,” said Igor Pejic, BNP Paribas strategist and author, in an interview with HotNews on Monday. “But at these levels, the line between visionary growth and speculative bubble is thinner than ever.”
SpaceX’s imminent IPO, priced at $1.78 trillion, would dwarf the largest U.S. listings on record and test whether public investors are willing to price in Musk’s long-term bets on Starlink, space-based computing, and Mars colonisation before any revenue materialises . European regulators and asset managers are watching closely; MSCI confirmed on Monday that it will fast-track index inclusion rules ahead of the SpaceX debut, potentially forcing global funds to rebalance portfolios within days .
Anthropic, OpenAI’s closest rival in frontier-model development, filed its own confidential IPO documents on 2 June, according to Reuters and multiple European outlets . The two companies, both headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, are now locked in a race to prove which can sustain investor confidence in generative-AI economics. OpenAI’s filing came just hours after a French-language report in Le Monde noted that the company had “recently” submitted its plans, underscoring the speed of developments .
Market strategists warn that the trio’s combined push toward public markets could overwhelm liquidity and force a correction if any stumble. “We are in uncharted territory,” Pejic told HotNews. “A single disappointment—be it on valuation, execution, or regulatory clarity—could cascade across the entire AI complex.” With SpaceX shares set to begin trading on 12 June, the coming days will reveal whether Wall Street’s enthusiasm for AI can withstand the weight of its own expectations.





