OpenAI will keep investing in AI data centers despite election results, CFO tells CNBC
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar on Friday said the company will continue to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure, even after voters strongly rebuked data centers during Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“When I think about the midterms, I need to keep thinking about how do we keep investing to meet that customer demand,” Friar told CNBC’s Sara Eisen in an interview at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit at California’s Pebble Beach. “It starts early with having built relationships with all of the hyperscalers, and it will continue to mean that we raise capital.”
Out of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states, voters backed restrictions or rejected pro-development measures for all but one, according to an analysis by Ballotpedia and additional results gathered by CNBC on Wednesday. Opposition to the facilities mounted swiftly over the summer as Americans grew worried about their potential to harm the environment, raise utility bills and contribute to job loss.
Investors have turned skeptical on the AI trade of late due to a combination of higher borrowing costs, concerns about soaring debt and public backlash towards the industry. The Nasdaq on Thursday suffered its steepest drop in 19 months, led by a plunge in shares of the chipmakers and neoclouds most closely tied to the AI buildout. The stocks rebounded some on Friday.
OpenAI depends on data centers to train its AI models and serve customers, and Friar said she doesn’t think the election results dramatically changed anything for the company. On Thursday, OpenAI published a policy blueprint and a series of commitments that it pledged to apply to company-owned and -operated data centers in the future.
“If the midterm means more focus on data centers and communities, we’re going to keep doing the work to get into those communities and to build trust with them,” Friar said.
OpenAI confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, and Friar said Friday that the company would continue to look into a 2027 debut. Anthropic, OpenAI’s chief rival, is trying to go public first, with an aim to hit the Nasdaq in mid-November.
Anthropic’s revenue in the first nine months of the year jumped roughly 1,200% to $33.2 billion, according to its prospectus. The company said it has entered into purchase commitments and lease agreements with an aggregate committed spend of about $895.4 billion, “substantially all of which is related to compute and infrastructure.”
OpenAI is currently in talks to raise funding at a $1.25 billion dollar pre-money valuation, Friar said Friday. She said “a good CFO always raises money when she can,” and that the round is ongoing.
“The demand for AI is real,” Friar said. “I don’t think anyone’s arguing with that, or if they are, I think it’s a losing argument.”
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