As OpenAI races toward a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), a new report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that the AI giant is struggling to hit the aggressive revenue and user growth targets it set for itself. These setbacks are fueling internal tensions over whether the company’s massive spending on computing power is sustainable.

Falling Short of Ambitious Goals

OpenAI missed several key internal milestones as it entered 2026, signaling a potential cooling of the initial AI frenzy:

• The Billion-User Barrier: The company failed to reach its target of one billion weekly active users for ChatGPT by the end of 2025.
• Revenue Stagnation: OpenAI missed multiple monthly revenue targets in early 2026. While its revenue run-rate remains high (around $20 billion), it has fallen short of the more aggressive projections intended to woo IPO investors.
• Subscriber Churn: The company is reportedly seeing higher-than-expected “churn” (cancellation rates) among ChatGPT Plus subscribers, suggesting that the novelty of consumer AI may be wearing off.

Rising Competition from Google and Anthropic

For the first time, OpenAI’s dominance is being seriously challenged. The WSJ reports that Google’s Gemini has successfully eroded OpenAI’s market share in the consumer space, while Anthropic has made significant inroads into the lucrative coding and enterprise markets. Anthropic, in particular, has managed to close the gap with OpenAI despite having far less funding, leading some to question OpenAI’s efficiency.

The $600 Billion Computing “Crisis”

The most significant point of friction involves OpenAI’s staggering infrastructure costs. CEO Sam Altman has committed the company to roughly $600 billion in future data center and computing spending through 2030.

This massive debt-like obligation has caused a rift between leadership:

• The CFO’s Warning: Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has reportedly expressed deep concern that OpenAI may not be able to fulfill its computing contracts if revenue growth doesn’t accelerate.
• The IPO Conflict: While Altman is pushing for a fast-tracked IPO (potentially by late 2026), Friar is advocating for caution. She has argued that the company’s internal financial controls and reporting systems aren’t yet ready for the scrutiny of the public markets.

Why It Matters

OpenAI recently raised $122 billion in a historic funding round, but experts warn that even this record-breaking cash pile could be depleted within three years at the current burn rate. With losses projected to hit $14 billion this year alone, OpenAI is in a high-stakes race to prove that its “agentic AI” can generate enough profit to pay off its astronomical hardware bills. If the growth doesn’t return, the “AI bubble” narrative currently circulating in Silicon Valley could gain dangerous momentum.