OpenAI IPO 2026: Chat MakerGPT Prepares Private Filing With Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley

OpenAI, the San Francisco company behind ChatGPT, is preparing to file an initial public offering within weeks, in what could be billed as one of the biggest flights the artificial intelligence industry has ever seen and a defining moment in the global tech race.

According to two people familiar with the matter, the maker of ChatGPT is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the papers and is monitoring market conditions closely before pulling the trigger. The timing remains fluid, but a filing in the coming weeks could pave the way for a listing in early September. The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Bloomberg, sent new ripples through a market already prepared for a big year of technology releases.

“As part of normal governance, we are constantly evaluating a range of strategic options,” said an OpenAI spokesperson. “We’re focused on execution.”

The most viewed listing in a generation

Few companies have generated as much speculation among bankers, fund managers and policy makers. OpenAI was valued at $730 billion in its most recent private funding round earlier this year, and a secondary market trade reportedly pushed the stated valuation to $850 billion. A successful listing could reduce the float of Facebook, Alibaba and Saudi Aramco in dollar terms and highlight the AI ​​boom that ChatGPT started when it launched in late 2022.

It will also stand as a bellwether for the broader appetite for AI stocks at a time when revenue multiples across the sector have exceeded historical norms. CNBC reported separately that the company is eyeing a public appearance in the fall, and the filing could be days away.

For UK-based investors, founders and SME advisors, the proposed listing makes some sense. OpenAI has spent the past 12 months deepening its British footprint, recently signing a long-term lease at its King’s Cross headquarters as part of plans to double its UK workforce. The company also brought former chancellor George Osborne on board to lead its Stargate international infrastructure initiative.

It’s a great year for tech mega-floats

OpenAI isn’t the only Silicon Valley heavyweight listed on the public markets. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite group that has valued itself at more than $1 trillion in the latest secondary trading, is expected to start trading as soon as next month. Anthropic, OpenAI’s closest competitor in the frontier model race, has also taken steps to prepare for listing.

Those three alone could absorb a meaningful share of global IPO volume by 2026, siphoning liquidity away from smaller deals and intensifying competition between New York, London and Hong Kong for blue-chip listings. The City’s impact has not gone unnoticed: Zopa’s chief executive, Jaidev Janardana, recently suggested that London’s IPO market could boom as political instability in the US intensifies, and the British exchange struggles to keep up with growing tech companies.

Musk’s hurdle cleared, power questions remain

OpenAI’s push into the public markets got a big boost on Monday, when a federal judge and jury dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mr. Had this action been successful, it would likely have disrupted any near-term float. With that legal cloud lifted, advisors can move forward with due diligence and underwriting work.

The company will still need to convince public investors that it can sustain infrastructure spending behind the curve models. OpenAI recently inked a $38 billion computing deal with Amazon, in addition to multibillion dollar commitments to AMD and Oracle, raising new questions about cash burn, energy availability and the long road to profitability.

What it means for SMEs

For British small and medium-sized businesses, the significance of the OpenAI IPO goes beyond share price headlines. Public OpenAI will be forced to reveal more about its commercial pipeline, pricing strategy, business customer base and roadmap than is currently apparent – information that could be used by procurement teams, technology buyers and competing UK AI startups to sharpen their planning. It could also fuel the next wave of listings from smaller AI vendors willing to ride OpenAI’s slipstream, potentially creating new exit routes for British founders and backers.

If the filing catches up to the timeline bankers are making now, the fall could mark the time when artificial intelligence officially graduates from private market darling to mainstream public market asset class. For SME owners weighing their technology investments, the message is clear: the economics of AI are about to become more visible – and more difficult to ignore.