Sam Altman Says OpenAI Does Not Want Government Bailouts

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said the company does not want or need government guarantees for its datacenter expansion projects. His comments followed remarks from CFO Sarah Friar, who had suggested that U.S. government loan backstops could lower financing costs for OpenAI’s massive infrastructure plans.

Friar later clarified that OpenAI is not seeking such guarantees, saying her earlier comments had been misinterpreted. The company is currently managing commitments of about $1.4 trillion over the next eight years, with an annualized revenue run rate of more than $20 billion.

Altman said that governments should not pick winners or losers in the market and that taxpayers should not be responsible for bailing out private companies. He added that while OpenAI has discussed government loan guarantees in the context of semiconductor manufacturing, this differs from datacenter financing.

He reiterated that OpenAI’s growth strategy involves scaling up computing infrastructure to meet rising global demand for AI, including new enterprise offerings, consumer devices, and robotics.