OpenAI revenue doubles to $12 bn, clocks in 700 mn weekly ChatGPT users

OpenAI is pushing aggressively into custom enterprise AI services and eyeing billion-dollar deals, as its user base surges. Its growth is fuelled by demand for ChatGPT and high-value AI contracts

OpenAI has doubled its revenue in the first seven months of 2025, reaching an annualised run rate of $12 billion, The Information reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the company’s financials. The surge is driven by rising demand for both its consumer-facing ChatGPT products and an aggressive expansion into enterprise-grade artificial intelligence (AI) services.

 

The Microsoft-backed firm is now generating roughly $1 billion per month and boasts around 700 million weekly active users globally, including both individuals and business clients.

 

Capital and talent moves

To support its growth, OpenAI has increased its projected cash burn for 2025 to approximately $8 billion, up from a previous forecast of $7 billion. This rise comes amid intensified R&D investment and expansion of its enterprise service arm.

 

The company is also progressing with the second phase of a $30 billion funding round. Existing shareholders Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management are reportedly investing hundreds of millions of dollars, while total investor commitments—excluding Japan’s SoftBank—are close to $7.5 billion. SoftBank, which first invested in OpenAI in late 2024, has committed a total of $32 billion to date.

 

$10 million+ custom AI services

Earlier this month, reports emerged that OpenAI was offering customised AI solutions starting at $10 million. These include tailored deployments of its flagship GPT-4o model for enterprise and government clients. Early adopters reportedly included the US Department of Defence and tech platform Grab.

 

OpenAI is targeting multi-year contracts that could scale into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Internally, there is confidence that billion-dollar deals could eventually become commonplace. The initiative is led in part by OpenAI researcher Aleksander Mądry, who is focused on refining large language models (LLMs) for specific customer outcomes. 

 

AI talent on demand

OpenAI’s growth story comes at a time when it faces mounting pressure in retaining top AI talent. Rival Meta has reportedly poached at least eight OpenAI employees this year and is actively recruiting for its own 'Superintelligence' lab with highly competitive compensation packages. OpenAI has responded by making internal efforts to reward existing teams, stating that the company has retained its “best” people despite the external interest.