OpenAI and Anthropic Turn to Enterprise Clients to Lock in Revenue and Scale in Intensifying AI Race

Artificial intelligence leaders OpenAI and Anthropic are increasingly orienting their businesses around enterprise customers, a shift that highlights how the generative AI boom is entering a more commercially disciplined phase marked by high costs, tougher competition, and growing pressure to turn adoption into durable revenue.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, executives from both companies framed enterprise adoption not as a side business but as the backbone of their growth strategies in 2026 and beyond. The emphasis signals a recognition that large organizations, rather than individual users, are better positioned to fund the massive infrastructure required to train and deploy advanced AI systems.

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said enterprise customers currently make up about 40% of the company’s business, with that figure expected to approach 50% by year-end. The company disclosed late last year that more than one million businesses globally now use its tools, ranging from customer support automation and software development to data analysis and internal productivity systems.

This enterprise push marks a significant evolution for OpenAI, which began in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab with a mission centered on broad societal benefit. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, the company has become one of the most prominent consumer-facing names in technology, while also transforming into a core supplier of AI capabilities for companies across sectors. Its valuation, now estimated at around $500 billion, has intensified expectations that OpenAI will demonstrate a clear and scalable path to profitability.

Friar said the company’s strategy is focused on narrowing what she described as a capability gap, meaning the difference between what AI models can do in theory and the tangible value enterprises can extract in practice. That has translated into a heavier focus on customized models, enterprise-grade security, compliance features, and deeper integrations with existing business software.

Anthropic has taken a more enterprise-first path. Chief Executive Dario Amodei said roughly 80% of the company’s revenue comes from enterprise clients, with consumer use making up the remainder. He described businesses as a more stable and predictable source of income, particularly for a company that has positioned itself around safety, reliability, and controlled deployment of AI systems.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives and researchers, Anthropic has grown rapidly, reaching more than 300,000 business customers as of September, up from fewer than 1,000 two years earlier. Its valuation, now estimated at about $350 billion, underscores how quickly investors have rewarded firms that can demonstrate enterprise traction.

The enterprise tilt across both companies is closely tied to the economics of AI. Training large language models requires billions of dollars in investment, driven by soaring demand for specialized chips, data centers, and energy. Consumer subscriptions, while valuable for brand recognition and data, often struggle to cover these costs at scale. Enterprise contracts, by contrast, can run into the millions of dollars annually and are often renewed over multiple years.

There is also a strategic dimension. Enterprises tend to embed AI deeply into their operations, from supply chain management to software engineering, making switching costs higher once systems are deployed. That creates longer-lasting customer relationships and more predictable cash flows, an attractive proposition for companies navigating volatile capital markets.

Competition, however, is intensifying. OpenAI and Anthropic are not only vying with each other but also with technology giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, which are bundling AI tools into cloud services that many enterprises already use. This has raised the stakes around differentiation, pushing startups to emphasize performance, reliability, and governance rather than novelty alone.

In that environment, enterprise adoption has become a key signal of credibility. Large organizations tend to move cautiously, subjecting AI tools to legal, security, and compliance reviews before deployment. Winning those clients sends a message to the market that a provider’s technology is ready for real-world use at scale.

Taken together, the remarks from Davos point to a broader transition in the AI sector. The focus is shifting from rapid user growth and eye-catching demos to monetization, operational resilience, and long-term value creation. This makes enterprise customers not just an attractive option for OpenAI and Anthropic. They are central to proving that the generative AI revolution can sustain itself financially as it reshapes how businesses operate.