Altman Goes Full YOLO While China Builds Top-Tier AI for Pennies

Big spender

1. OpenAI's cumulative cash burn projected to exceed $488bn by 2029 (vs. $143bn free cash flow), with $200bn potential by 2030 (HSBC) from data center commitments, surpassing historical tech giants' losses (Amazon 1994-2002, Spotify 2006-2023).

2. No startup in history has operated with losses approaching OpenAI's current scale.