OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar stated on Friday that despite voters' strong opposition to data centers in the mid-term elections on Tuesday, the company will continue to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Friar said in an interview with CNBC at Citi TMT Leadership Summit held in Pebble Beach, California: "When I think about the mid-term elections, I need to continue to consider how we can continue to invest to meet customer needs." She said, "This started a long time ago, first by establishing relationships with all the largest cloud service providers, and this will also continue to mean that we need to raise funds."
According to the analysis by Ballotpedia and the supplementary results collected by CNBC on Wednesday, among 41 local voting proposals in 10 states, voters supported restrictions or rejected proposals in favor of development in all but one case. As Americans become increasingly concerned that these facilities may damage the environment, raise utility bills, and lead to job losses, opposition to data centers has rapidly intensified since the summer.
Due to rising borrowing costs, concerns about a surge in debt, and public backlash against the industry, investors have become more cautious regarding AI transactions recently. On Thursday, the Nasdaq index experienced its largest decline in 19 months, with chip manufacturers most closely related to AI construction and neocloud company stocks leading the drop. On Friday, these stocks saw some rebound.
OpenAI relies on data centers to train its AI models and provide services to customers. Friar stated that she does not believe the election results will cause significant changes to the company. On Thursday, OpenAI released a policy blueprint along with a series of commitments, indicating that these measures will be applied to the company's own and operated data centers in the future.
"If mid-term elections mean we need to pay more attention to data centers and communities, then we will continue to do this work, enter these communities, and build trust with them," said Friar.
OpenAI submitted a prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in secret in June. Friar stated on Friday that the company will still continue to consider listing in 2027. OpenAI's main competitor, Anthropic, is attempting to list first, with a goal of entering NASDAQ in mid-November.
According to the prospectus, Anthropic saw its revenue increase by approximately 1200% year-on-year in the first nine months of this year, reaching $33.2 billion. The company stated that it has signed purchase commitments and leasing agreements, with a total committed expenditure of about $895.4 billion, "of which the vast majority is related to computing power and infrastructure."
Friar stated on Friday that OpenAI is in talks for a round of financing, with a pre-investment valuation of 1.25 trillion dollars. She said, "An excellent chief financial officer always raises money when the time is right." She also mentioned that this round of financing is still ongoing.
CNBC On Friday, it was confirmed that the company has completed the first tranche of this financing round, which amounts to $11 billion, and it may raise an additional $9 billion in the coming weeks. Bloomberg was the first to report on this $11 billion financing.
"The requirement of AI is indeed real," said Friar. "I don't think anyone would object to that; if there are people who do, I think that's an argument that would be lost."
View:Complete interview with Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI by CNBC
