OpenAI has lifted margins on its paid products this year as it works to defend its lead in artificial intelligence, according to a report from The Information.
The outlet said the company improved its “compute margin”, an internal measure of revenue remaining after the cost of running its models for paying corporate and consumer customers. As of October, OpenAI’s compute margin had reached 70%, up from 52% at the end of 2024 and roughly double its level in January 2024, the report said, citing a person familiar with the figures.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company does not publish those numbers and declined to comment.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, helped ignite the current AI boom but has not yet reported a profit, a key metric for investors watching for signs of a bubble in the sector. The company was last valued at $US500 billion in October, and has been looking for ways to boost revenue as it attempts to cover high computing costs and fund large infrastructure plans.
The report comes as OpenAI faces scrutiny over spending and intensified competition. After Alphabet’s Google posted stronger benchmark results for its Gemini model, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman declared a “code red” to shift resources toward improving ChatGPT, and progress on an advertising initiative was delayed, according to the report.
While most users remain on ChatGPT’s free tier, OpenAI has been pushing its business offering and paid features aimed at sectors such as financial services and education, where it competes with Google and rival Anthropic.