On November 6, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company is not seeking government support if it ever faces financial trouble.
His comments came as the company faces questions about how it plans to cover roughly $1.4 trillion in data center and computing commitments. Altman noted that while OpenAI’s revenue is growing, it currently brings in about $20 billion annually.
Altman’s statement followed remarks by Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, who had suggested that she wanted the US government to “backstop” some of OpenAI’s infrastructure loans.
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Speaking at a Wall Street Journal event, Friar said such backing would reduce borrowing costs and help ensure the company could continue using the latest computer chips.
When asked what she wanted from the government, Friar said she meant “the backstop, the guarantee that allows the financing to happen”, which would make loans cheaper and increase the amount the company could borrow.
In response, Trump’s AI adviser, David Sacks, stated on X:
There will be no federal bailout for AI.
He added that the government’s focus is on improving power generation and speeding up project approvals, not on bailouts.
Altman agreed with Sacks and clarified OpenAI’s stance. He said:
We do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI datacenters.
He added, “Governments should not decide which companies succeed or fail, and taxpayers should not be responsible for businesses that make poor choices or lose in the market”.
Recently, AMD reached a long-term deal with OpenAI to deliver a large amount of computing capacity over several product generations. What did AMD say about the agreement? Read the full story.
