OpenAI's light balance sheet draws IPO scrutiny

The Next Web reports, citing The Information, that OpenAI showed zero debt and just $46mn of capital expenditure in the most recent quarter, and carried less than $750mn of lease liabilities as at 31 March. The Next Web also reports that about 72% of the company's cost of revenue flows to related parties such as Microsoft. According to The Next Web, The Information identified roughly $665bn of purchase commitments that do not appear on OpenAI's balance sheet, primarily tied to long-term compute and data center arrangements. The Next Web reports that OpenAI filed with the SEC on 8 June, with the filing valuing the company at about $852bn, and that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the deal.

Industry-pattern observations: Large AI developers commonly commit to long-term capacity via contracts, joint ventures, and supplier arrangements instead of owning all hardware outright. That pattern moves substantial spending off the balance sheet into contractual obligations that are material for model production costs but do not show as traditional debt or capex on an accounting snapshot. For practitioners, this means headline metrics like low capex or zero debt can understate the operational scale of compute consumption when long-duration purchase commitments are present.

Industry observers note supplier concentration can invite governance and regulatory scrutiny - specifically the reported 72% COGS flowing to related parties raises questions about arm's-length pricing and what that structure means for margins post-IPO. Fortune (June 17) notes OpenAI's 2025 financials showed $34bn in total costs and expenses against $13.07bn in revenue, yielding an operating loss of $20.92bn. The combination of reported off-balance-sheet commitments and losses at this scale makes OpenAI's prospectus one of the most closely watched filings in recent memory.