OpenAI delays IPO to 2027 as advisers urge caution after SpaceX volatility

OpenAI is leaning toward delaying its initial public offering until 2027, pushing back what would be one of the most anticipated tech listings in history.

OpenAI advisers are urging Chief Executive Sam Altman to postpone the company's IPO until next year, citing recent volatility in SpaceX's stock and the startup's ongoing financial challenges, according to the New York Times.

"OpenAI is not yet prepared for the reporting standards required of a public company," Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said, advocating for the delay as the firm deals with unmet revenue targets and significant spending on data center infrastructure.

The decision marks a strategic shift for the ChatGPT maker, which submitted a confidential S-1 filing but now faces reduced market confidence in a near-term listing. Prediction markets show the odds of an IPO by June 30, 2026 have dropped sharply, while pricing suggests reduced conviction in a valuation exceeding $500 billion.

The delay carries implications beyond OpenAI. The company's IPO was widely seen as a bellwether for the next wave of AI and tech listings, with SpaceX, Anthropic, and Shein collectively targeting nearly $200 billion in potential offerings. If OpenAI pushes its debut to 2027, it could reset the timeline for the entire AI IPO pipeline and delay liquidity events for employees and early investors.

The postponement comes as OpenAI navigates rapid expansion and heavy capital expenditure. The company crossed 900 million weekly active users on ChatGPT in February 2026, making it the fastest-scaling consumer technology in history, according to UBS via Reuters. Yet that user growth has not translated into the revenue trajectory needed to satisfy public market expectations. Nearly 20 percent of ChatGPT queries carry direct commercial intent, with travel, retail, health and beauty, and financial services emerging as the strongest-performing advertising categories, the company said at Cannes Lions.

OpenAI's spending commitments have also escalated. The company recently announced Jalapeño, its first AI processor developed with Broadcom, marking a major step in building next-generation infrastructure for advanced AI. Such investments require substantial upfront capital, adding pressure to a balance sheet already stretched by data center expansion.

A Ripple Effect Across Tech IPOs

The delay could reshape the IPO calendar for the broader technology sector. The strong performance of the SpaceX IPO had raised expectations for OpenAI's debut. "We also believe the strong performance of the SpaceX IPO bodes well for the highly anticipated OpenAI IPO," said Thomas Lee, managing partner at Fundstrat and chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies.

But the volatility in SpaceX's stock since its listing has given OpenAI's advisers reason to pause. The last time a high-profile AI company delayed its IPO during market turbulence was in 2022, when Instacart and Klarna postponed their debuts during the tech selloff. Both eventually went public at significantly lower valuations.

What Comes Next

OpenAI now faces a choice: use the additional time to strengthen its financial reporting infrastructure and revenue base, or risk losing momentum to competitors like Anthropic, which may move faster toward a public listing. The company's CFO has indicated that readiness for public reporting standards is the primary hurdle, suggesting the delay is driven by operational preparedness rather than market conditions alone.

For investors holding OpenAI shares in secondary markets, the postponement extends the wait for liquidity. Eightco Holdings, a publicly traded vehicle with indirect exposure to OpenAI through a $90 million investment in special purpose vehicles, represents one of the few ways public market investors can gain exposure to the company's equity ahead of its IPO.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.