OpenAI is rumored to submit its IPO application as soon as this Friday, with an estimated valuation exceeding $85 billion.

OpenAI is expected to secretly submit a draft IPO prospectus this Friday, as the company prepares for what could potentially be one of the largest IPOs in global history. Sources revealed that OpenAI is collaborating with investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Morgan Stanley, with plans to complete the secret submission in the coming days or weeks. Currently, OpenAI is valued at over $850 billion in the private market. An OpenAI spokesperson stated in a declaration, "As part of normal corporate governance, we regularly evaluate various strategic options. The company's focus remains on executing its business." Reports suggest that OpenAI could potentially launch its IPO in the fourth quarter of this year. Company CFO Sarah Friar previously stated in an interview that for a company of OpenAI's scale, operating and managing according to "public company standards" is a "good governance practice", but she did not disclose a specific timeline for going public. As OpenAI moves forward with its IPO, Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX is also preparing for one of the largest IPOs in history. Earlier this year, SpaceX completed a merger with xAI, valuing the company at $1.25 trillion, and secretly submitted its listing documents to the US SEC last month. With OpenAI and SpaceX advancing their IPOs, competition in the capital markets of the AI industry is quickly heating up. At the same time, long-standing tensions between Musk and OpenAI CEO Altman are extending beyond Silicon Valley to Wall Street. Both had previously co-founded OpenAI, but later had serious disagreements about the company's direction. Over the past month, the two have been engaged in a fierce legal battle in the California federal court. Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, and President Brockman, accusing the company of reneging on its initial commitment to remain non-profit. However, this week, the jury deemed Musk's lawsuit "too late", and the judge formally accepted this ruling. Musk then posted on the X platform, stating that the ruling was just a "timing issue". Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, igniting a global AI craze, OpenAI has rapidly grown into one of the most valuable private tech companies in the world. The company has raised over $180 billion in total financing, but it is also continuously burning through funds at a high speed. During the IPO sprint, Altman not only needs to prove to investors that OpenAI's business model and profit potential can support its ultra-high valuation, but also face increasingly fierce industry competition. Among them, Anthropic is rapidly rising, particularly showing strong performance in enterprise AI and AI programming. Reports suggest that Anthropic is currently seeking a new round of financing at a valuation of around $900 billion, with a valuation potentially exceeding that of OpenAI. Anthropic has also stated that the company's annual revenue has surpassed $30 billion.