AI stocks slide after OpenAI’s revenue turns out $20 billion lower than reported
Shares of the companies building the artificial intelligence boom fell on Thursday, 8 October, after investors learned that OpenAI’s revenue is running well below a figure that had been widely reported only weeks ago. Nvidia fell 3%, Oracle nearly 6% and the cloud provider CoreWeave nearly 8%, according to CNBC. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.25%, its worst day since mid-August, CNN reported.
What changed
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, told investors that its annualized revenue reached roughly $50 billion at the end of September. CNBC confirmed the figure, which was first reported by the Financial Times. Late last month, media reports based on information from investors had put the number at about $68 billion to $70 billion.
The gap does not mean OpenAI lost sales. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC that the $68 billion figure included gross revenue from OpenAI’s partners, a method that lets investors compare the company more directly with its main rival, Anthropic. CNN, citing a source familiar with the documents, reported that the higher figure did not come from OpenAI itself. Anthropic’s numbers include gross revenue from cloud providers, the source said, while OpenAI’s are based on net revenue.
Why the market still cared
The selling spread across the supply chain for AI. Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom each fell 4%, Intel fell 5% and Super Micro Computer nearly 5%, CNBC reported. These are the chipmakers, server builders and cloud companies whose order books depend on AI developers continuing to spend.
Their share prices rest on a simple assumption: that demand for AI will keep growing fast enough to pay for the data centres being built. A smaller revenue figure at the industry’s best-known company puts a question mark over that assumption, even if the business itself is unchanged.
“There are going to be tremors throughout all of the related sub-industries,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, told CNN. He also pointed to how much the wider market now leans on these stocks. “This has become a much narrower market that’s dependent on the AI names to keep it afloat,” he said.
The timing made it sharper. Stock indexes had opened lower on Thursday, with oil prices and bond yields rising, and the declines accelerated after the Financial Times report was published around midday, according to CNN. The S&P 500 ended the day down 0.5%.
The growth numbers are still large
The same investor presentation that contained the $50 billion figure also showed fast growth. OpenAI reported 77% growth in its total revenue run rate during the third quarter and 107% growth in its enterprise business over the same period, the person familiar with the presentation told CNBC.
The company is also spending heavily. OpenAI posted a net loss of $38.5 billion in 2025 on revenue of $13.07 billion, according to Quartz.
What is at stake for OpenAI
The revenue question lands at a sensitive moment. OpenAI is valued at $852 billion and confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators in June, with executives signalling a stock market debut in 2027, CNBC reported. Chief executive Sam Altman said in September that the company would not go public this year.
In the meantime, OpenAI is in early discussions with investors about a new funding round of around $30 billion, a figure that could still change, according to CNBC. No term sheet has been finalized. The company closed a $122 billion round in March, and chief financial officer Sarah Friar told CNBC last week that it is still “very well capitalized”.
Anthropic is preparing its own listing and is reportedly seeking a $2 trillion valuation. In August it told investors that its annualized revenue run rate reached $65 billion at the end of July, CNBC reported.
For the companies selling chips and computing power, the next real test is their own results. Quarterly earnings season is getting under way, and their order books will show whether spending on AI is holding up.
Sources: The $50 billion figure and how the $68 billion figure was built, the individual share moves, OpenAI’s growth rates, valuation, funding talks and listing plans, and Anthropic’s figures: Nvidia, Oracle, other AI stocks sink on OpenAI revenue report — CNBC, 8 October 2026.
Index moves, the timing of the selloff, net versus gross revenue, and the Baird comments: Tech stocks drop after report that OpenAI’s revenue is lower than expected — CNN Business, 8 October 2026.
OpenAI’s 2025 revenue and net loss: OpenAI corrects annualized revenue figure to $50 billion — Quartz, 8 October 2026.
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