OpenAI now generates $10 billion annually from recurring revenue, as the company grows rapidly with climbing financial stakes less than three years after it introduced ChatGPT.
This revenue stream, revealed at the WWDC 2025, comes from three main areas, including consumer subscriptions, business clients using ChatGPT Enterprise, and developers tapping into its API.
Again, the number does not include any licensing money from Microsoft or the company’s larger one-off enterprise deals, according to a company spokesperson.
In less than 36 months, OpenAI has grown from a disruptive newcomer to a tech king. Last year, it reported $5.5 billion in recurring revenue, but today, that number has doubled.
Nonetheless, the company burned through approximately $5 billion in 2024 alone, so its growth wasn’t cheap. It paid for scale; recruiting top talent, buying computing power, and continuously improving the products that drive the company’s appeal.
While OpenAI hasn’t published its operating costs in full, we know the firm is aiming big. Its goals include a revenue target of $125 billion by 2029, an aggressive pursuit of authority across the market.
Earlier this year, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round, still the largest private technology deal ever recorded. At a valuation nearly 30 times its current revenue, expectations are sky-high.
The company counts Microsoft, SoftBank, Coatue, Altimeter and Thrive among its key backers. These are investors used to backing winners and pushing for aggressive returns.
Since launching ChatGPT for consumers in late 2022, OpenAI has expanded fast. Business tools followed in 2023, and the user base hasn’t stopped growing.
As of March 2025, more than 500 million people were using OpenAI’s tools weekly. The number of paying business customers has hit 3 million, climbing from 2 million in February.
Internally, the growth is celebrated, but the pressure is equally intense. OpenAI’s model requires constant investment, cash, computing power, and talent. Every expansion move must be backed with infrastructure that can keep pace with demand.
Even with the success, profitability is not certain and the company has not confirmed if it’s near breaking even.
