ETN News Agency reported on the 9th that forecasts for revenue at artificial intelligence (AI) leader OpenAI have significantly diverged from market expectations, triggering a sharp drop of over 300 points in the Nasdaq within half an hour on Thursday afternoon (8th). According to a financial document provided to investors, OpenAI's annualized revenue as of the end of September was only close to $50 billion, nearly 30% lower than the previously rumored market estimate of $70 billion. The news has prompted markets to reassess revenue growth and profitability prospects for AI firms.

   The $20 billion difference mainly stems from differing calculation methods. OpenAI's investors attempted to directly compare its annualized revenue with that of competitor Anthropic. Anthropic includes sales through partners such as Amazon (US.AMZN) Web Services and Google Cloud in its revenue, whereas OpenAI does not. If OpenAI adopted the same standard, it could achieve a higher valuation.  

   Despite these accounting differences, OpenAI emphasized that its year-on-year revenue growth during the period still exceeded 70%. According to Quartz citing audit documents, the company's recognized revenue for the full year 2025 was $13.07 billion. Market analysts note that OpenAI and Anthropic's revenue performance is seen as a key indicator of AI demand and will directly affect the scale of related infrastructure investments. (yc)