OpenAI offers AI for chip design, touts cost advantage over open-source, CFO says

OpenAI is expanding its AI capabilities into specialized fields like chip design, life sciences, and financial services, according to Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Friar highlighted the company's focus on tailoring AI systems to specific tasks as businesses seek measurable returns on their AI investments.

This push into industry-specific AI comes amid intensifying competition from Chinese open-weight models and rivals such as Anthropic, as enterprise customers demand more concrete benefits from their AI spending. OpenAI recently employed its own models in the development of its Jalapeno chip, which reached the taping stage within nine months.

In response to competitive pressures, OpenAI has reduced the price of its lower-cost Luna model by 80%, leading to a tenfold surge in usage. The company's coding tool, Codex, has garnered 25 million users. Enterprise revenue increased by 32% from June to July, while overall annualized revenue grew by 20% during the same period. By mid-year, enterprise and consumer businesses had reached a near 50-50 split, surpassing OpenAI's goal of achieving this balance by year-end.

Friar emphasized that using OpenAI's lower-cost model could be more economical than running Chinese open-source alternatives on cloud providers. For instance, deploying Luna instead of GLM 5.3 from Z.ai on a cloud layer would save costs, Friar stated.