Sam Altman says OpenAI not seeking government guarantees for data centres

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has clarified that the company is not seeking government loan guarantees for its data centres, countering speculation that it wanted US taxpayer backing for its infrastructure plans.

In a detailed note on Thursday, shared on microblogging platform X, Altman said OpenAI believes governments should not pick winners or losers and that taxpayers should not bail out companies that make bad business decisions.

Our CFO (Sarah Friar) talked about government financing yesterday, and then later clarified her point, underscoring that she could have phrased things more clearly, Altman said.


As mentioned above, we think that the US government should have a national strategy for its own AI infrastructure, he added.

Altman added that while OpenAI does not want government guarantees for its own projects, it would make sense for governments to build and own their own AI infrastructure. In such cases, he said, the benefits should accrue to the public sector, not to private firms.


The OpenAI CEO said the only context in which the company had discussed loan guarantees was related to semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, where it has responded to the government’s call to strengthen domestic chip production. “The idea has been to ensure that the sourcing of the chip supply chain is as American as possible to bring jobs and industrialization back to the US,” Altman wrote.

Addressing concerns about how OpenAI plans to fund its expansion, Altman said the company expects to end 2025 with more than 20 billion dollars in annualized revenue and aims to reach hundreds of billions by 2030. He said OpenAI is looking at commitments of about 1.4 trillion dollars over the next eight years to build computing infrastructure, adding that this would require continued revenue growth and possible fundraising through equity or debt.

Altman said OpenAI is prepared to take risks as it scales up its infrastructure. “If we screw up and cannot fix it, we should fail. That is how capitalism works,” he said. “We plan to be a successful company, but if we get it wrong, that is on us.”

He added that OpenAI is investing heavily to meet rising demand for AI applications and future breakthroughs in areas such as scientific research, consumer devices and robotics. “We believe the risk of not having enough computing power is greater than the risk of having too much,” Altman said.

Also Read: After criticism, OpenAI retracts government guarantee idea