Sam Altman's bet: Can OpenAI's ambitions keep pace with industry's soaring costs?

Altman believes the revenue will come from paid-for versions of ChatGPT, other companies using its data centres and people buying the hardware devices it is building. Altman believes the revenue will come from paid-for versions of ChatGPT, other companies using its data centres and people buying the hardware devices it is building. Sam Altman's bet: Can OpenAI's ambitions keep pace with industry's soaring costs? As investor jitters grow, the loss-making ChatGPT firm's vast spending commitments test the limits of Silicon Valley optimism Mon 10 Nov 2025 09.21 ESTFirst published on Mon 10 Nov 2025 09.00 EST It is the $1.4tn (£1.1tn) question. How can a loss-making startup such as OpenAI afford such a staggering spending commitment?