Speculation is building around OpenAI's potential value, with commentary framing the artificial intelligence company as a possible $1 trillion business — even though it remains privately held and has not announced an initial public offering.
According to The Motley Fool, whose analysis was also carried by Yahoo Finance and MSN, OpenAI "could be worth $1 trillion," and the firm points to three publicly traded stocks that it says give everyday investors exposure to that upside today. The Motley Fool describes those companies as trading at "reasonable valuations" that could set up attractive returns — a pitch aimed at readers who cannot buy OpenAI shares directly.
The interest extends beyond OpenAI. Yahoo Finance poses the question of which single IPO investors would choose among SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic — grouping three of the most closely watched private companies as anticipated future listings.
Meanwhile, crypto.news reports that Coinbase is selling pre-IPO "perps" (perpetual futures contracts) tied to SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic, offering a way to trade exposure to these firms before any public offering exists.
A note of caution: these sources describe speculation and indirect investment products, not a confirmed OpenAI IPO, valuation, or filing. The $1 trillion figure is a projection, not a market price.
Why it matters: the appetite to bet on OpenAI before it is publicly tradable shows how intensely investors want a piece of the AI boom — and how that demand is spawning workarounds, from proxy stocks to crypto derivatives, that carry real risk for anyone chasing a company that has not yet opened its books.