Abstract:
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said on Friday that the company will continue to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure, even if voters strongly reject data centers in Tuesday's midterm elections. "When it comes to the midterm elections, I need to continue to think about how to continue to invest to meet client needs," Friar said in an interview at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit in Pebble Beach, California. "That starts with building relationships with all the hyperscalers early on and will continue to mean we raise capital."
Of the 41 local ballot measures in 10 states, voters supported controls or rejected pro-development measures in all but one, according to an analysis by Ballotpedia and additional results compiled by The Press on Wednesday. Opposition grew rapidly this summer as Americans grew increasingly concerned the facilities could harm the environment, drive up electric bills and lead to job losses.
Investors have turned skeptical of AI deals recently due to rising borrowing costs, concerns about soaring debt and a public backlash against the industry. Nasdaq suffered its biggest drop in 19 months on Thursday, led by chipmakers and new cloud companies most closely related to AI construction. Those stocks rebounded on Friday.
OpenAI relies on data centers to train its AI models and serve customers. Friar said she doesn't think the election results will result in significant changes to the company. On Thursday, OpenAI released a policy blueprint and a series of commitments it said will apply to company-owned and operated data centers going forward.
“If the midterm elections mean more focus on data centers and communities, we will continue to work hard to get into those communities and build trust with them,” Friar said.
OpenAI confidentially submitted a prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Friar said on Friday that the company would continue to study a listing in 2027. Its main competitor Anthropic is trying to get listed first, aiming to land on Nasdaq in mid-November.
According to Anthropic’s prospectus, its revenue jumped about 1,200% in the first nine months of this year to $33.2 billion. The company said it has signed purchase commitments and lease agreements with total committed expenditures of approximately $895.4 billion, "almost all related to computing power and infrastructure."
Friar said on Friday that OpenAI is negotiating to raise funds at a pre-money valuation of $1.25 billion. She said that "a good CFO will always raise funds when they can" and said that this round of financing is still in progress.
“The demand for AI is real,” Friar said. "I don't think anyone would argue with that; if anyone did, I think it's a weak argument."
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