TLDR
- OpenAI missed its goal of 1 billion weekly ChatGPT users by end-2024
- The company missed multiple monthly revenue targets earlier this year
- CFO Sarah Friar warned internally that future computing contracts may be hard to fund
- Oracle and CoreWeave fell 3.5% in premarket; AMD dropped 2.7%
- OpenAI lost ground to Anthropic in coding tools and to Google Gemini in market share
OpenAI has fallen short of key growth targets, and the news is hitting AI infrastructure stocks hard.
According to a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday, OpenAI missed its internal goal of reaching one billion weekly active users for ChatGPT by the end of 2024. The company also missed its annual revenue target and several monthly revenue goals earlier this year.
The report says Google’s Gemini gained strong momentum late last year and took market share from OpenAI. Anthropic also pulled ahead in coding tools and enterprise markets, putting more pressure on OpenAI’s growth story.
Shares in Oracle and CoreWeave fell 3.5% in premarket trading on Tuesday. Advanced Micro Devices dropped 2.7%. These companies have built significant parts of their growth plans around AI infrastructure demand.
Oracle announced plans earlier this year to raise $45 to $50 billion to expand its cloud infrastructure business. It cited contracted demand from customers including OpenAI, Meta, and Nvidia as justification. CoreWeave guided for capital spending of $30 to $35 billion in 2026, more than double what it spent in 2025.
Questions Around OpenAI’s IPO Plans
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has privately warned company leaders that the firm may struggle to fund future computing contracts if revenue doesn’t grow fast enough, per the Journal’s sources. Board directors have also taken a closer look at data center deals and questioned CEO Sam Altman’s push for more computing power.
Friar has also reportedly flagged concerns about whether OpenAI is ready to meet the reporting standards required of a public company. Altman has said he plans to take OpenAI public by late 2026.
Both Altman and Friar pushed back on the Journal’s report. In a joint statement, they called any suggestion of internal disagreement or a pullback on computing resources “ridiculous.” They said they were “totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can.”
OpenAI’s Financial Position
OpenAI recently closed its largest-ever funding round, raising $122 billion. However, the company expects to burn through that amount within three years, even if it hits its revenue targets. Some of the funding is also conditional on specific partner agreements.
The company has been dealing with higher subscriber loss rates, adding another layer of concern for investors and executives ahead of a possible IPO.
Friar and other executives have been pushing for more financial discipline and cost control, which has at times put them at odds with Altman’s expansion goals, according to the report.
OpenAI’s biggest AI infrastructure partners, including Oracle and CoreWeave, have both committed to large spending increases in 2026 based partly on expected demand from OpenAI.
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