OpenAI (Unlisted:OPAI) reported an 18% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue for the three months to June, but widening losses and stronger growth at rival Anthropic (Unlisted (US):ANTHRO) disappointed some investors looking for faster progress from the ChatGPT developer.
Revenue increased to US$6.7 billion in the second quarter from US$5.7 billion in the first three months of the year.
However, OpenAI’s operating margin moved further into negative territory, pushing profitability further out as the company prepares for a widely anticipated initial public offering.
The results come as chief executive Sam Altman faces growing pressure from competitors, investors and customers amid a rapidly changing artificial intelligence market.
Anthropic moves ahead
Anthropic more than doubled its revenue to US$11.6 billion during the same period, marking the first time its sales had exceeded those of OpenAI.
The Claude developer also recorded a small operating profit, highlighting an increasingly sharp divergence in the financial performance of the two companies.
The shift reflects how quickly the competitive landscape has changed since the start of the year.
Slower growth for ChatGPT, coupled with the success of Anthropic’s Claude Code coding product, has increased pressure on OpenAI to strengthen its commercial offering and respond to competitors gaining traction with enterprise and developer customers.
OpenAI has also been reshaping its senior leadership team.
The company last week replaced chief revenue officer Denise Dresser after less than a year in the role. Her departure followed several other senior exits, including former chief operating officer Brad Lightcap and Fidji Simo, who had previously been viewed as a potential successor to Altman.
Growth expected to accelerate
OpenAI has told investors that revenue growth accelerated following the release of a new group of models in July.
While quarterly revenue approaching US$7 billion would represent substantial scale for most technology startups, expectations surrounding OpenAI remain unusually high.
The company has raised capital on projections of rapid long-term growth while entering into large-scale computing agreements that depend on OpenAI eventually generating hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue.
Those commitments also have wider implications for companies supplying the infrastructure behind the AI expansion, including Nvidia and Oracle, whose growth expectations are increasingly tied to continued spending by OpenAI and other major artificial intelligence developers.