OpenAI Says Midterms Don't Change IPO Plans
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the 2026 midterm elections did not dramatically change the company's plans for a public offering.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the 2026 midterm elections did not dramatically change OpenAI's IPO plans, speaking during a live CNBC interview on Friday. The comments came as Democrats won a majority in Congress and flipped governorships in Texas, Georgia, and Ohio.
Why it matters
The statement signals that OpenAI intends to keep building data centers and pursuing a public listing despite a shifting political landscape. Friar said continued investment is needed to meet customer demand.
OpenAI's revenue rose 70% in the third quarter and its enterprise sales doubled, according to figures cited in the interview. The company's March funding round valued it at $852 billion post-money, though a $1.25 billion pre-money figure mentioned in the interview appears to be a misstatement that was likely meant to be $1.25 trillion.
The players
Sarah Friar
Sarah Friar is the chief financial officer of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, and has overseen the company's financing and public-market planning.
OpenAI
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research and deployment company founded in 2015 that develops large language models and consumer AI products.
Anthropic
Anthropic is an artificial intelligence safety company and a major rival to OpenAI in developing advanced AI models.
The details
OpenAI's pledge, announced Thursday, commits the company to pay the full cost of the electricity its data centers consume, including any necessary grid upgrades. The company also said it would end certain non-disclosure agreements with public officials and publish job data for its data center sites, which it calls compute campuses.
Timeline
March 2026: OpenAI closed a funding round at an $852 billion post-money valuation.
Thursday, November 5, 2026: OpenAI announced its responsible AI infrastructure pledge.
Friday, November 6, 2026: Friar made the IPO remarks on CNBC.
This month, November 2026: Anthropic may pursue its own IPO.
Big Picture
OpenAI's position mirrors the capital-intensive race among frontier AI developers, in which Anthropic is its chief rival and may also move toward an IPO this month. The company's stated view that its data center build-out must continue despite the 2026 midterm shift suggests that infrastructure spending is being treated as independent of electoral outcomes.
A public listing by OpenAI would give ordinary investors a direct route to shares in a company whose products many people already use. The company's electricity pledge could also affect utility bills in communities where its data centers are located.
The takeaway
Major AI companies appear to be planning their capital and infrastructure strategies on timelines that are not tied to short-term political changes. Readers tracking the sector should watch for the IPO timing and whether the electricity and transparency pledges are implemented.
What happens next
OpenAI is expected to target an IPO next year, and Anthropic may move toward its own public listing as soon as this month.
Further reading
For broader coverage of the industry, see Artificial Intelligence in the United States section.
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