OpenAI Hasn't Set Official IPO Timeline, Tempers Investor Expectations

OpenAI hasn't yet held pre-IPO meetings to discuss potential pricing and demand, or outlined an official timeline for the listing, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

Those meetings to test the waters with investors will likely start once the artificial intelligence company has a better sense of timing, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details are not public.

OpenAI said it confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, a promising signal for investors who are eager to jump into AI. But the company has repeatedly tried to temper expectations about when it will hit the public markets, writing in a post on X that it "may be a while."

The New York Times reported on Thursday that OpenAI is leaning toward a 2027 IPO. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

The speculation over OpenAI's plans comes after Elon Musk's SpaceX made a historic debut earlier this month, minting him as the world's first trillionaire. The stock has had a volatile first two weeks, and shares were mostly flat during intraday trading on Friday.

OpenAI's chief rival, Anthropic, has also confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators, but it has not disclosed an official timeline.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC earlier this month that the company will IPO when it makes sense.

"I think there is a race to deliver the best technology and build the best business, but, you know, going public is a financing event, and I don't think that's one that we're focused on the timing of," Altman said.