OpenAI CFO Responds to Public Resistance to Data Centers, Says Demand Is Real and Investment Will Continue

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OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said on Friday that the company will continue to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, even though American voters expressed strong opposition to data center construction in the midterm elections.

In an interview, Friar said, "When it comes to the midterm elections, what I need to keep thinking about is how we continue to invest to meet customer demand. We established partnerships with all the hyperscalers early on, and we will continue to raise funds in the future."

According to the latest analysis of the midterm elections, of the 41 local ballot measures involving data centers in 10 U.S. states, voters supported imposing restrictions on all but one, and in some cases even rejected proposals supporting development and construction.

It is worth noting that before the midterm elections, polls showed that more than 40% of American voters opposed building new data centers in the country, and more than 70% opposed construction in nearby communities.

This summer, growing concerns among the American public that data centers could damage the environment, drive up utility bills, and cause job losses rapidly intensified opposition.

On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite suffered its largest single-day drop in 19 months, led by chipmakers and emerging cloud service providers most closely tied to AI infrastructure construction.

Sarah Friar

OpenAI relies on data centers to train AI models and provide services to customers. Friar said she believes the election results will not bring major changes to the company.

On Thursday, OpenAI released a policy blueprint and a series of commitments, and said it will in the future implement these commitments at company-owned and self-operated data centers.

Friar said, "If the midterm elections mean that everyone will pay more attention to data centers and the communities where they are located, we will continue to go deep into these communities and work to build trust with local residents."

OpenAI confidentially submitted a draft prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Regarding this, Friar said the company will continue to study the possibility of going public in 2027.

OpenAI's main competitor, Anthropic, is trying to go public first, with a target of listing on Nasdaq in mid-November. The prospectus states that the company's revenue grew by about 1,200% in the first nine months of this year, reaching $33.2 billion.

Anthropic said it has signed purchase commitments and lease agreements with total committed spending of nearly $900 billion, "almost all of which is related to computing power and infrastructure."

Friar said OpenAI is also negotiating a new round of financing at a pre-money valuation of $1.25 billion. She said, "A good CFO always raises money when they can," and said this round of financing is still ongoing.

(Source: Cailian Press) Mid-body embedded advertisement