OpenAI burned $3.7 billion in the first quarter: revenue rose to $5.7 billion, and cash on hand exceeded $73 billion

According to Beating Monitoring, OpenAI had a cash outflow of $3.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, accounting for more than 60% of the $5.7 billion revenue for that quarter. According to financial documents disclosed to shareholders, both first-quarter revenue and burn rate were three times higher than the same period last year. Cash and marketable securities at period end increased from $40 billion at the end of last December to over $73 billion.

The financial statements show a net loss of more than $21.3 billion in the first quarter, but the loss was mainly driven by a non-cash accounting item totaling nearly $12.4 billion (primarily related to fair value changes in liabilities for convertible equity and stock warrants). Excluding the impact of accounting entries, the operating loss for the first quarter was $9.3 billion, including $2.3 billion in employee equity incentive expenses. Research and development expenses during the same period were $8.6 billion.

In terms of cost of revenue, the expenditure in the first quarter for providing model services was $3.5 billion, and the gross margin rose from 33% in the same period last year to 39%. However, the larger hidden expense lies in compute power agreements. Disclosures for the first quarter show that as of the end of 2025, cloud computing procurement commitment amounts reached as much as $665 billion, with procurement contracts continuing through 2030. Last week, OpenAI secretly filed for a listing application.