Overview
- An October 27 letter from OpenAI to the White House requested grants, loans, or loan guarantees to expand AI server, data center, and grid capacity, contradicting later public denials.
- CEO Sam Altman said the company does not want government guarantees for its data centers, noting discussions of loan guarantees only in the context of U.S. semiconductor fabs.
- CFO Sarah Friar told WSJ Tech Live the firm sought an ecosystem of banks, private equity, and possibly a government backstop to lower financing costs, then clarified that OpenAI is not seeking a backstop.
- White House AI czar David Sacks said there will be no federal bailout for AI companies, as investor worries over sector exposure contributed to steep AI-stock losses this week.
- OpenAI is pressing to expand Chips Act/AMIC tax-credit eligibility to AI infrastructure and is weighing options including selling compute capacity and raising more equity, with revenue tracking to a $20 billion annualized run rate against roughly $1.4 trillion in commitments.