OpenAI to keep investing in data centres, focus on community trust: CFO Sarah Friar
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has announced that it will keep investing in AI data centres. Sarah Friar, the company’s CFO, has confirmed that voter opposition during the US midterm elections had not dramatically changed its infrastructure plans. Last week, speaking to CNBC at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit in Pebble Beach, California, Friar linked continued spending to customer demand.“If the midterm means more focus on data centers and communities, we’re going to keep doing the work to get into those communities and to build trust with them,” Friar said.
Her comments outlined OpenAI’s response to the election results: continued investment and fundraising, alongside efforts to address concerns in communities affected by data centre development.Why OpenAI plans to keep investing in data centersOpenAI relies on data centres to train its AI models and run services for customers. Friar said meeting that demand remained central to its plans after the elections.“When I think about the midterms, I need to keep thinking about how do we keep investing to meet that customer demand,” she told CNBC.
“It starts early with having built relationships with all of the hyperscalers, and it will continue to mean that we raise capital.”Hyperscalers are large cloud computing providers that supply computing capacity and infrastructure to companies such as OpenAI. Friar’s comments indicated that those relationships and access to funding would remain part of the company’s expansion strategy.What US voters said about data centresVoters backed restrictions or rejected measures supporting development in 40 of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states, according to a Ballotpedia analysis and additional results gathered by CNBC.Opposition grew over the summer amid concerns about environmental damage, higher utility bills and potential job losses.
These concerns have increased scrutiny of the facilities needed to support AI services.A day before Friar’s interview, OpenAI published a policy blueprint and commitments that it said would apply to future company-owned and company-operated data centres. Friar added the company would continue working with local communities to build trust.Fundraising and a potential public listing remain in viewFriar also said OpenAI would continue exploring a potential stock market debut in 2027.
According to the report, the company confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June.The company’s latest funding round remained ongoing. The report added that OpenAI had closed an initial $11 billion portion and could raise another $9 billion in the coming weeks.“The demand for AI is real,” Friar noted. “I don’t think anyone’s arguing with that, or if they are, I think it’s a losing argument.”You use AI every day.
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