"A loss of US$12 billion in three months will become one of the largest quarterly losses in tech history," reported The Wall Street Journal on Nov.1. According to Microsoft's recently released quarterly financial report for the period ending Sept. 30, its investment in the leading artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI may have resulted in a loss exceeding US$12 billion for the quarter. Although OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed optimism about the company's annual revenue last Friday, this figure still reflects the cost pressures faced by OpenAI and many other tech companies due to their significant investments in training AI models.
In the financial report, Microsoft disclosed that its equity method investment in OpenAI led to a net profit reduction of US$3.1 billion. Based on Microsoft's ownership of approximately 27% of OpenAI, analysts speculate that this means OpenAI's net loss for the quarter was around US$11.5 billion. Considering the pre-tax losses and the previously held higher shares, the actual loss may exceed US$12 billion.
OpenAI's financial situation has been a topic of market concern. The UK tech news site The Register referred to the US$12 billion loss as an "astronomical figure," noting that its revenue for the first half of the year was only US$4.3 billion.
Altman stated last week on a program that the company's actual annual revenue is much higher than rumored. However, he also acknowledged that OpenAI is taking risks and may face setbacks, as insufficient computing resources could lead to revenue falling short of expectations.
As of last Friday's close, Microsoft's stock price had fallen by 1.51%, highlighting market concerns over the widening gap between AI companies' growth and spending. Meanwhile, major AI companies like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have annual capital expenditures totaling hundreds of billions of dollars and are continuing to expand.
(Source: Global Times)
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