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Updates with CFO clarification
Investing.com-- OpenAI, creator of the wildly popular ChatGPT tool, is hoping that the government will be willing to back its financing plans to acquire more artificial intelligence chips and build data centers.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said during a Wall Street Journal conference on Wednesday that she hoped the government will provide guarantees for the AI startup’s financing deals for chips and data centers.
“This is where we’re looking for an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental, the ways governments can come to bear,” Friar said, adding that any government guarantees will substantially lower the cost of financing and also increase the loan-to-value aspect of its deals.
But Friar said in a Linkedin post that OpenAI was not directly seeking a government "backstop" for its AI infrastructure spending.
Friar clarified that she was making the point that American strength in technology will come from both the private sector and government "playing their part."
Speaking at the WSJ conference, Friar said OpenAI could achieve profitability on “very healthy” gross margins in its enterprise and consumer businesses, if it weren’t seeking to invest so aggressively.
Friar dismissed reports that the startup was seeking an initial public offering in the near-term, and also said she was not “overly focused” on reaching break-even.
OpenAI is the world’s most valuable startup, but is rapidly losing money amid outsized spending on AI infrastructure and as it focuses more on research and development over profitability.