New Delhi | Leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI has posted a landmark financial performance in 2025, reporting revenue of nearly $20 billion (₹1.66 lakh crore), a more than tenfold increase in just two years. The milestone underscores the explosive global adoption of generative AI tools. However, the surge in earnings has been matched—if not exceeded—by rising operating costs, leaving profitability elusive.
According to company-linked figures, OpenAI’s annual revenue grew by over 230% in 2025, compared with approximately $2 billion in 2023. Industry observers describe the growth as unprecedented for a consumer-facing AI platform, but note that the scale of expenditure required to sustain such growth is equally extraordinary.
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Usage Surge Drives Infrastructure and Energy Costs
The revenue jump has come alongside an even steeper rise in expenditure. OpenAI is estimated to be spending close to $17 billion annually on operations, with the bulk of costs tied to high-performance computing infrastructure, vast server networks, and electricity consumption needed to run large-scale AI models such as ChatGPT.
Internal estimates suggest the company’s power requirement increased from 0.2 gigawatts in 2023 to nearly 1.9 gigawatts in 2025, representing almost a tenfold rise in just two years. Analysts say such energy demand is exceptional even by Big Tech standards and highlights the capital-intensive nature of large language models.
Subscription Model Shows Its Limits
While paid subscriptions remain a core revenue stream, they have so far failed to keep pace with rising costs. By mid-2025, only about 5% of OpenAI’s weekly active users—roughly 35 million people—were paying subscribers.
This means the company continues to rely heavily on a vast base of free users, even as infrastructure and energy costs scale with usage. The imbalance has intensified pressure on OpenAI to explore alternative monetisation strategies beyond subscriptions.
Advertising Becomes a Strategic Necessity
To narrow the widening gap between income and expenditure, OpenAI has decided to introduce advertising on free and low-cost versions of ChatGPT. The company has said advertisements will be shown separately from AI-generated responses, will be clearly labelled, and will not use user conversations for targeted advertising.
Paid subscribers will continue to receive a fully ad-free experience. The move is significant, as company leadership had previously described advertising as a last-resort option, underscoring the scale of financial pressure created by operating costs.
Big Bet on Funding and Valuation
Alongside changes in monetisation, OpenAI is actively pursuing fresh capital. Reports indicate the company is seeking up to $100 billion in new funding at a valuation of around $830 billion, placing it among the most highly valued private technology firms globally.
Recent backing from major international investors suggests confidence remains strong in the long-term potential of generative AI, despite short-term concerns over profitability.
A Broader Reality for the AI Sector
Industry experts say OpenAI’s financial trajectory reflects a wider truth about the AI boom: rapid adoption and popularity do not automatically translate into sustainable profits. As demand for generative AI accelerates, the costs of computation, energy, and infrastructure rise in parallel, forcing companies to rethink business models.
For OpenAI, the central challenge now is to balance rapid innovation and mass adoption with long-term financial sustainability—without undermining user trust or the core promise of making advanced AI widely accessible.
About the author — Suvedita Nath is a science student with a growing interest in cybercrime and digital safety. She writes on online activity, cyber threats, and technology-driven risks. Her work focuses on clarity, accuracy, and public awareness.
