OpenAI is leaning toward postponing its long-anticipated initial public offering until 2027, as management weighs the risks of entering increasingly volatile public markets against the benefits of remaining private while it continues investing aggressively in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The discussions, according to a report by The New York Times citing three people involved in the company’s internal deliberations, highlight the changing calculus for one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies. While OpenAI and rival Anthropic have spent much of the past year preparing for Wall Street debuts, recent turbulence in technology stocks and the sharp pullback in newly listed AI companies are prompting executives and advisers to reconsider the timing.

According to the report, investment bankers advising the ChatGPT developer warned that the recent volatility in technology shares, coupled with the steep decline in SpaceX stock following its record-breaking IPO, could weaken retail investor appetite for another blockbuster AI listing.

Those concerns have become more pronounced after SpaceX, which staged one of the largest public offerings in history, saw a significant portion of its post-listing gains evaporate within weeks, underscoring how quickly investor sentiment can shift even toward companies viewed as AI leaders.

The report said OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has instructed advisers, including bankers and lawyers, to pursue a valuation of $1 trillion, a figure that would make OpenAI one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded technology companies from its market debut.

Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI has been working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on preparations for a potential public listing as early as this fall. However, no final decision has been made. OpenAI has already taken a key procedural step by confidentially filing for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, giving the company flexibility to move ahead once market conditions become more favorable.

In a statement issued on June 9, OpenAI emphasized that the filing does not commit the company to an immediate listing.

“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” the company said.

“But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

Remaining private would allow OpenAI greater flexibility as it continues deploying unprecedented sums into AI infrastructure without the quarterly earnings scrutiny that accompanies public markets.

The company has emerged as one of the biggest spenders in the AI race, investing heavily in graphics processors, data centers, custom AI hardware, and advanced model development to maintain its competitive position against rivals including Anthropic, Google, Meta, and xAI.

Earlier this year, OpenAI raised $122 billion in one of the largest private fundraising rounds ever completed by a technology company. The financing valued the ChatGPT maker at approximately $852 billion, including the new capital, cementing its status as one of the world’s most valuable private enterprises.

That enormous fundraising has reduced immediate pressure to tap public markets for financing, giving management greater flexibility to wait for stronger market conditions and potentially command a higher valuation.

The report also shows that the IPO race among leading AI developers is becoming increasingly competitive. OpenAI and Anthropic have both confidentially filed to go public, with each seeking to attract public-market investors to help finance the enormous capital requirements associated with building frontier AI systems.

Anthropic, once widely viewed as trailing OpenAI in the generative AI race, has significantly narrowed the gap after rapid revenue growth driven by strong enterprise demand for its Claude family of AI models, particularly coding assistants that help software developers write, review, and debug code. The company’s improving commercial performance has strengthened investor confidence that multiple AI model developers can generate sustainable revenue despite the industry’s enormous infrastructure costs.

Still, analysts say the economics of frontier AI remain heavily dependent on continuous access to capital. Training sophisticated AI models requires billions of dollars in computing infrastructure, while inference, the process of serving AI models to millions of users, continues to consume massive amounts of graphics processors, memory chips, and electricity.

Those capital demands have sparked an unprecedented investment cycle across the technology sector. Major hyperscalers, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, are collectively expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars this year expanding AI infrastructure, while startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic continue raising record amounts from private investors.

Against that backdrop, delaying an IPO until 2027 could allow OpenAI to continue scaling as a private company while avoiding near-term market volatility. It could also provide additional time to grow revenue, strengthen profitability, and potentially justify Altman’s ambitious $1 trillion valuation target before eventually entering public markets

Saudi Aramco has resumed crude loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf on Friday, marking a symbolic and practical return to normal operations after nearly four months of disruption caused by the Iran war, according to shipping data.

The restart comes as the world’s largest oil exporter joins a broader regional rush to move cargoes, driven by cautious optimism that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire framework will hold and allow the Strait of Hormuz to fully reopen.

Two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) operated by Saudi’s shipping arm Bahri were actively loading at the terminal, with another waiting nearby. Each VLCC can carry up to 2 million barrels, signaling a significant step toward restoring pre-war export levels.

Ras Tanura, the world’s biggest oil port, once exported more than 5 million barrels per day (bpd) before the conflict. It also hosts a 550,000 bpd refinery that was shut as a precaution during the war. The terminal’s reactivation is critical not just for Saudi Arabia but for global oil markets, as the kingdom had diverted much of its output to the Red Sea port of Yanbu after Iranian forces effectively blockaded the strait.

Aramco last loaded a cargo from Ras Tanura for China on March 8. In the intervening months, Saudi crude exports slumped to around 4 million bpd from more than 7 million bpd in February, contributing to one of the most severe supply disruptions in recent history.

The resumption occurs against a backdrop of persistent uncertainty. A ship operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine was struck by an unknown object in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, prompting the British navy’s UKMTO to pause escort operations. Two U.S. officials attributed the incident to Iranian forces, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority warned that vessels straying from approved routes would not be guaranteed safe passage.

Despite these tensions, oil flows through the strait have begun to recover, reaching their highest levels since the conflict erupted. Middle Eastern producers have been ramping up output and exports in anticipation of normalized shipping lanes. Iraq’s SOMO and Qatar issued new crude tenders this week, following similar moves by Kuwait and the UAE. Iran, too, is accelerating exports after Washington temporarily eased sanctions.

This surge in supply is already weighing on prices. Brent crude fell more than $1 a barrel on Friday, slipping below $76 for the first time since early March. Physical market differentials have normalized toward pre-war levels, reflecting improved availability.

Rystad Energy’s MENA research director Aditya Saraswat noted the rapid pace of recovery.

“Two million barrels a day came back online in three weeks, and the recovery is spread across the region,” Saraswat said.

The consultancy estimates shut-in production across the Gulf has dropped to 9.6 million bpd in mid-June from 11.7 million bpd just three weeks earlier, forecasting a full regional supply recovery by the end of the year.

For Saudi Arabia, the restart is both a commercial necessity and a geopolitical signal. As the de facto leader of OPEC+, Riyadh has a vested interest in stabilizing markets after months of elevated prices that risked damaging global demand. At the same time, the kingdom is positioning itself to regain market share lost during the blockade, particularly in Asia, its largest customer base.

Aramco is expected to cut its official selling prices for August sharply next week as competition among producers intensifies. This price discipline will be crucial in preventing a supply glut from derailing the fragile ceasefire.

The broader oil market is transitioning from a period of acute shortage fears to one of potential oversupply concerns. While the ceasefire roadmap provides a 60-day window for negotiations, any breakdown could quickly reverse recent gains. Investors remain wary, with prices still elevated compared to pre-war levels but well off their peaks.

The reopening also comes with significant implications for global energy security. Economists have noted that a sustained return to normal flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG before the conflict, would ease inflationary pressures on energy-importing economies and provide breathing room for central banks navigating sticky inflation.

The resumption at Ras Tanura underscores how quickly energy markets can pivot when diplomatic progress occurs, but it also highlights the vulnerability of global supply chains to regional conflicts. While Saudi Arabia’s ability to redirect exports to Yanbu during the blockade demonstrated operational resilience, the preference for Gulf terminals like Ras Tanura remains clear due to lower costs and logistics efficiency.