OpenAI Files Confidential IPO, Joining Anthropic and SpaceX in Wall Street Rush

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, filed confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 8 June 2026, formally opening the door to a public listing. The move came just one week after its foremost rival Anthropic submitted its own S-1, and days before Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to debut on the Nasdaq on 12 June, creating an extraordinary concentration of next-generation technology companies racing toward Wall Street. OpenAI issued a characteristically blunt statement: “We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it.” It added that no timing had been fixed, conceding that “it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.”

Viewed from Washington, the flurry of filings signals a maturing of the artificial intelligence sector, with its leading firms now seeking the deep capital pools public markets provide. From São Paulo to Buenos Aires, financial dailies led their Tuesday editions with news of the filing, reflecting the global appetite for exposure to the AI boom. In Stockholm, Sydsvenskan noted that OpenAI’s last private valuation, pegged at SEK 8,000 billion (roughly $852 billion) in March, would make any debut one of the largest in history. That figure, however, may prove conservative: Reuters reported that the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion at its listing, with September floated as a possible window.

OpenAI has retained Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise on the offering, according to Argentine business daily Ámbito Financiero, though the size and precise terms remain undisclosed. The company is navigating a delicate trade-off, analysts in London note. Remaining private allows it to pursue long-term research without quarterly earnings pressure, yet the escalating costs of training frontier models and the arms-race dynamic with Anthropic and Musk’s own AI ventures makes public capital increasingly attractive. SpaceX’s concurrent IPO, which could raise a record $86 billion and value the rocket and AI conglomerate at $1.78 trillion, is only intensifying the sense of a landmark moment.

The timing remains fluid. While the Wall Street Journal earlier suggested September, CNBC now points to the fourth quarter, and OpenAI itself insists there is no fixed date. That ambiguity underscores the strategic complexity facing Sam Altman’s company: going public is an option, not an obligation, but the pressure to seize the moment while investor enthusiasm for AI remains at a fever pitch is unmistakable. Should OpenAI proceed, market participants in Jakarta, London and New York alike will be watching whether the debut marks the peak of a speculative wave or the foundation of a new industrial era.