OpenAI plans $100 billion in extra spending on reserve servers

OpenAI is planning an additional $100 billion in spending on reserve servers over the next five years, according to The Information. By 2030, the company expects to have spent around $350 billion on rented server capacity.

At a Goldman Sachs conference, CFO Sarah Friar explained that OpenAI often has to delay product launches or hold back features because of severe limits on available compute.

The extra servers are meant to protect against sudden spikes in usage and to support future model training. Projections suggest OpenAI will spend about $85 billion per year on servers, nearly half of what Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle combined earned in 2024. Taken together, these investments push the expected cash outflow through 2029 to $115 billion.