OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said Friday that the company will continue to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure even after voters slammed data centers during Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“As we think about the midterm elections, we need to continue to think about how we continue to invest to meet customer demand,” Fryer told CNBC’s Sarah Eisen in an interview at the CityTMT Leadership Summit in Pebble Beach, California. “That starts early by building relationships with all the hyperscalers, and that means continuing to raise capital.”
Of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states, voters supported restrictions or rejected pro-development measures in all but one, according to a Ballotpedia analysis and additional results collected by CNBC on Wednesday. Opposition to the facility grew rapidly over the summer as Americans became concerned that it could harm the environment, raise utility bills and lead to job losses.
Rising borrowing costs, concerns about soaring debt prices, and public backlash against the industry have combined to make investors skeptical of AI trading in recent days. The Nasdaq on Thursday suffered its steepest decline in 19 months, led by plunging stocks in chipmakers and NeoCloud, the companies most closely tied to AI developments. Stocks rebounded slightly on Friday.
OpenAI relies on its data centers to train its AI models and serve its customers, and Friar said he doesn’t think the election results dramatically changed anything for the company. OpenAI on Thursday announced a policy blueprint and a series of commitments it promises to apply to enterprise-owned and operated data centers in the future.
“If the medium term means more emphasis on data centers and communities, we will continue to work to reach those communities and build trust,” Frier said.
OpenAI confidentially filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, and Frier said Friday that the company will continue to consider a 2027 debut. OpenAI’s main rival, Anthropic, is trying to go public first, aiming to list on the Nasdaq market in mid-November.
Anthropic’s revenue rose about 1,200% to $33.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, according to its prospectus. The company said it has purchase and lease agreements totaling approximately $895.4 billion, “substantially all of which are related to computing and infrastructure.”
OpenAI is currently in talks to raise funding at a pre-money valuation of $1.25 billion, Frier said Friday. “A good CFO will raise as much capital as possible,” he said, adding that fundraising is still ongoing.
“The demand for AI is real,” Frier said. “I don’t think anyone would dispute that, and if they did, I think that’s a losing argument.”
WATCH: Watch OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar’s full interview on CNBC.
