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The ChatGPT maker grew roughly 50% from the prior quarter, though rival Anthropic reportedly pulled in nearly $17 billion over the same stretch
Tue 10 Nov 2026 · 16:35 EST · 2 min read
In AI
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OpenAI brought in $10 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2026, getting there faster than many observers had anticipated.
The figure, reported by The Information on November 10, 2026, marks growth of approximately 50% from the previous quarter.
Where the money came from
The biggest driver was demand for OpenAI’s application programming interfaces, or APIs. These are the plumbing that lets other companies wire OpenAI’s models directly into their own products.
Demand was particularly strong for OpenAI’s newer models, including GPT-5.6 and Astra. Advertising sales also gave the quarter a lift.
The customer mix is shifting too. More than half of OpenAI’s revenue now comes from enterprise clients, according to co-founder Greg Brockman.
Brockman also said OpenAI’s annualized revenue grew 70% quarter-over-quarter in Q3. That is a different measure from the roughly 50% jump in actual quarterly revenue.
The run-rate math
By that measure, OpenAI was running at around $50 billion as of the end of September 2026. At the start of the year, the figure sat at about $20 billion.
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The run rate is expected to push past $70 billion by year’s end, with enterprise sales expected to carry much of that load.
The roughly $50 billion run-rate projection at the end of September reportedly caused some investor unease when it fell short of certain expectations.
Microsoft’s slice of the pie
The OpenAI boom shows up clearly on Microsoft’s books as well. The software giant said it generated $10 billion from its commercial engagements tied to OpenAI during its fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2026.
That represents almost 11% of Microsoft’s total quarterly revenue of $92.3 billion.
Across fiscal 2026, Microsoft’s revenue from OpenAI-linked activities reached $24.1 billion.
Anthropic steals some of the spotlight
Rival Anthropic announced nearly $17 billion in revenue for the same period.
That puts Anthropic ahead of OpenAI on quarterly revenue in Q3.
What this means
For investors in public tech companies, Microsoft is the most direct way to see OpenAI’s momentum reflected in a reported earnings line. The almost 11% contribution to Microsoft’s quarterly revenue makes the partnership a key variable in how the market evaluates the stock.
The figure to watch is the year-end run rate. If OpenAI clears the expected $70 billion mark, it would validate the enterprise-driven growth story Brockman is telling.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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