AI Giants Putting To Bed Major Knock Against Industry

OpenAI and Anthropic both reported a revenue spike in recent quarters after critics questioned AI firms’ ability to generate large revenues amidst a debt-fueled expansion.

The revenue surge came as the AI industry sought to justify its large valuations and the billions of dollars companies were spending to build AI infrastructure. OpenAI generated about $6.7 billion in revenue during the second quarter, an increase of roughly 18% from the previous quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal, while Anthropic more than doubled its revenue to $11.6 billion during the same period, according to the Journal.

OpenAI’s annualized revenue from business clients increased 32% in July from the previous month, exceeding the company’s overall growth rate, according to The New York Times’ DealBook newsletter. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told investors that businesses accounted for a majority of the company’s revenue, according to CNBC. CNBC.

The revenue growth came as critics questioned whether AI companies could generate enough sales and profits to justify their extraordinary valuations and the enormous sums spent on computing infrastructure. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called corporate concerns over AI costs “the most fair criticism of AI so far” in June, while a Bain survey found that 40% of companies reported AI cost savings below 10%.

The companies were spending heavily to develop and operate their AI systems, raising questions about whether they could turn revenue growth into profits. OpenAI’s operating loss, including stock-based compensation, widened to $12.3 billion in the second quarter from $9.3 billion in the first quarter, according to the Journal.

Big Tech’s borrowing costs are also rising as investors absorb a wave of new AI-related debt, forcing tech giants to offer higher yields to fund their infrastructure expansion. Amazon was forced to offer an extra 18 to 21 basis points of yield on the longest-dated bonds in its $25 billion July offering, while Meta faced higher financing costs for a $12 billion bond sale tied to a Texas data center, with the Financial Times reporting expected yields around 7.5%, roughly 0.4 percentage points higher than a similar debt deal Meta issued in October 2025.