OpenAI is targeting 1 billion users in 2025 — and is building its own data centers to get there

• OpenAI is seeking to reach 1 billion users by next year, a new report said.
• Its growth plan involves building new data centers, company executives told the Financial Times.
• The lofty user target signifies the company's growth ambitions following a historic funding round.

OpenAI is seeking to amass 1 billion users over the next year and enter a new era of accelerated growth by betting on several high-stakes strategies such as building its own data centers, according to a new report.

In 2025, the startup behind ChatGPT hopes to reach user numbers surpassed only by a handful of technology platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, by investing heavily in infrastructure that can improve its AI models, its chief financial officer Sarah Friar told the Financial Times.

"We're in a massive growth phase, it behooves us to keep investing. We need to be on the frontier on the model front. That is expensive," she said.

ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot introduced two years ago by OpenAI boss Sam Altman, serves 250 million weekly active users, the report said.

ChatGPT has enjoyed rapid growth before. It reached 100 million users roughly two months after its initial release thanks to generative AI features that grabbed the attention of businesses and consumers. At the time, UBS analysts said they "cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app."

Data center demand

OpenAI will require additional computing power to accommodate a fourfold increase in users and to train and run smarter AI models.

Chris Lehane, vice president of global affairs at OpenAI, told the Financial Times that the nine-year-old startup was planning to invest in "clusters of data centers in parts of the US Midwest and southwest" to meet its target.

Increasing data center capacity has become a critical global talking point for AI companies. In September, OpenAI was reported to have pitched the White House on the need for a massive data center build-out, while highlighting the massive power demands that they'd come with.

Altman, who thinks his technology will one day herald an era of "superintelligence," has been reported to be in talks this year with several investors to raise trillions of dollars of capital to fund the build-out of critical infrastructure like data centers.

Friar also told the FT that OpenAI is open to exploring an advertising model.

"Our current business is experiencing rapid growth and we see significant opportunities within our existing business model," Friar told Business Insider. "While we're open to exploring other revenue streams in the future, we have no active plans to pursue advertising."

In October, the company announced that it had raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation in a funding round led by venture capital firm Thrive Capital.

OpenAI said the capital would allow it to "double down" on its leadership in frontier AI research, as well as "increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems."

In June, the company also unveiled a strategic partnership with Apple as part of its bid to put ChatGPT in the hands of more users.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.