OpenAI President Greg Brockman Says Company Could Be IPO-Ready in 2027

OpenAI could be ready to enter the public markets in 2027, according to company president and co-founder Greg Brockman. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in California on November 4, Brockman expressed confidence that the artificial intelligence company would be prepared for an initial public offering (IPO) next year when asked directly about its readiness. His response was: “I think so. Yes.”

The comments offer one of the clearest public indications yet of OpenAI’s potential IPO timeline, although they do not amount to a formal announcement or confirmation that a listing will take place in 2027. Brockman said the company wants to go public when the timing is right and pointed to significant progress in its business, particularly its enterprise operations. The remarks come as OpenAI intensifies efforts to sell AI products to businesses and competes with rivals such as Anthropic in the fast-growing enterprise AI market.

Greg Brockman Signals Possible 2027 IPO Readiness

Brockman made the comments during a discussion at the Wall Street Journal’s technology conference in Napa, California.

When asked whether OpenAI would be ready for an IPO in 2027, he responded positively. He also said the company had made substantial progress during 2026 and that he felt more confident about its business than before.

However, there is an important distinction between being ready to go public and actually deciding to list shares.

An IPO requires decisions about timing, corporate structure, financial disclosures, regulatory requirements, market conditions and investor demand. Brockman’s comments indicate confidence in the company’s preparedness, but OpenAI has not announced a confirmed listing date or filed a public IPO registration statement.

He also emphasised that the company intends to go public when it considers the timing appropriate.

The remarks nevertheless suggest that OpenAI is increasingly thinking about the requirements of operating as a publicly traded company.

Enterprise Business Becomes OpenAI’s Biggest Revenue Source

One of the most significant details from Brockman’s appearance was the shift in OpenAI’s revenue mix.

He said the majority of the company’s revenue now comes from enterprise customers. This represents a substantial change from an earlier period when business customers accounted for approximately 30% of revenue.

The consumer business has continued growing, according to Brockman, but enterprise sales have expanded considerably faster.

Businesses are increasingly using OpenAI’s technology for software development, customer support, data analysis, internal productivity and automated workflows. Products such as ChatGPT Enterprise and its developer tools provide the company with opportunities to generate revenue from organisations rather than relying primarily on individual subscriptions.

The shift matters because enterprise contracts can create recurring business relationships and give AI companies access to larger customers with multiple potential use cases.

It also provides a broader commercial foundation as OpenAI prepares for its next stage of growth.

OpenAI Reports Strong Acceleration in Enterprise Growth

Brockman described the first and second quarters of 2026 as challenging for OpenAI’s enterprise business.

He acknowledged that the company had initially struggled to establish itself in agentic coding, a market where Anthropic’s Claude Code had attracted considerable attention.

OpenAI already had Codex, but Brockman said the product was not receiving significant attention at the time. He credited the company’s continued development efforts with helping it gain momentum.

By the third quarter, OpenAI’s enterprise business had accelerated.

Brockman said the company’s annualised revenue grew by 70% quarter over quarter during the third quarter, attributing the improvement to the enterprise segment doubling.

The annualised revenue growth figure should not be confused with a 70% increase in recognised revenue for the quarter. It reflects the growth rate cited by Brockman for the company’s annualised revenue measure.

He described the improvement as the result of investments made over previous quarters rather than a single product launch or short-term event.

Codex Becomes Important in the Competition With Anthropic

The rise of agentic coding has become an important part of the competition between OpenAI and Anthropic.

AI coding agents can perform more than generate isolated snippets of code. They can work across software projects, understand repositories, modify files, run tests and assist with multi-step development tasks.

Anthropic’s Claude Code gained significant attention in this category, creating pressure on OpenAI to strengthen its own developer offering.

Brockman said OpenAI had initially been overlooked in the agentic coding conversation, despite having Codex. The company subsequently continued investing in the product and worked to improve its position.

The competition matters because software development is one of the clearest enterprise use cases for advanced AI systems. Businesses can evaluate coding tools through practical measures such as development speed, reliability, code quality and the amount of work completed with limited human intervention.

For OpenAI, stronger adoption of Codex could support enterprise sales while expanding the company’s role beyond conversational AI.

JPMorgan Chase Partnership Highlights Enterprise Ambitions

Brockman pointed to a recent partnership with JPMorgan Chase as an example of the large organisations OpenAI is now working to serve.

Winning major enterprise customers requires more than demonstrating that an AI model can answer questions. Companies need confidence that the technology can be deployed securely, integrated into existing systems and supported over the long term.

Brockman said OpenAI had learned that enterprise sales involve helping businesses identify important outcomes they can achieve with AI, building trust and demonstrating reliability.

He also described how customer perceptions of OpenAI had changed. A year earlier, some companies questioned whether OpenAI was genuinely committed to enterprise customers. Brockman said that perception was now very different.

The change reflects the company’s effort to establish itself as a long-term technology supplier for large organisations rather than being viewed primarily as the developer of a popular consumer chatbot.

Why an IPO Would Be a Major Milestone for OpenAI

A public listing would represent a major transition for OpenAI.

An IPO could give the company access to a wider pool of capital, provide liquidity to eligible shareholders and employees, and establish a public-market valuation based on investor expectations.

It would also bring additional responsibilities.

A publicly traded OpenAI would face regular financial reporting requirements, greater scrutiny of its business performance and increased attention to its spending, profitability and governance.

These issues are particularly important for an AI company operating in a capital-intensive industry. Developing and deploying advanced models requires substantial investment in computing infrastructure, data centres, chips, research and talent.

Public investors would likely examine how quickly revenue is growing, how much it costs to serve customers and whether the company can convert demand for AI into sustainable financial returns.

An IPO would therefore be both a financing milestone and a test of OpenAI’s ability to operate at the scale expected of a public company.

The Bigger Picture

OpenAI’s potential 2027 IPO readiness comes at a time when competition in artificial intelligence is shifting from consumer adoption towards large-scale commercial deployment.

The company is attempting to build several sources of revenue, including consumer subscriptions, enterprise products, developer services and AI agents. Its growing enterprise contribution suggests that business customers are becoming increasingly important to its commercial strategy.

The competitive landscape is also changing. Anthropic and other AI developers are targeting the same corporate customers, while businesses are becoming more selective about the cost, reliability and measurable value of AI deployments.

For public-market investors, the central question will not simply be how widely OpenAI’s products are used. It will be whether the company can sustain growth while managing the enormous costs associated with building and operating advanced AI systems.

Looking Ahead

Brockman’s comments place 2027 firmly in the conversation around OpenAI’s potential public listing, but the company has not committed to an IPO date. Its decision will depend on business readiness, corporate and regulatory preparations, investor demand and broader market conditions. Continued enterprise growth and the commercial performance of products such as Codex will likely remain important indicators of its progress.

Over the coming months, attention will focus on whether OpenAI can maintain its enterprise momentum and demonstrate a stronger financial foundation. A successful transition to public markets would require the company to show not only rapid revenue growth but also a credible path towards sustainable economics. For now, Brockman’s remarks signal confidence in the company’s direction rather than confirmation that an IPO is scheduled for 2027.