Redazione RHC : 1 November 2025 15:20
Microsoft’s financial report indicates that OpenAI may have lost $12 billion in its latest fiscal quarter. An expense in Microsoft’s earnings report (517.81, -7.95, -1.51%) surprised analysts: a $4.1 billion charge related to its investment in OpenAI.
This figure represents a 490% increase compared to the same period last year. Bernstein analyst Firoz Valliji said that based on Microsoft’s previous quarterly report, which showed the company holds a 32.5% stake in OpenAI, this means OpenAI suffered a quarterly loss of more than $12 billion.
This is because Microsoft uses an accounting method called the ” equity method” to manage its stake in OpenAI. Under this method, Microsoft only reports its share of the AI company’s profits or losses. OpenAI was recently restructured into a for-profit entity, and Microsoft will hold a 27.5% stake going forward.
A $12 billion loss in three months would represent one of the largest quarterly losses in the history of a tech company . It’s not far from the $13 billion in revenue OpenAI had told investors it expected to achieve this year.
The specifics behind the losses are unclear because OpenAI does not publish its financial results. The company faces enormous data processing costs as it invests heavily in training new AI models, and the industry is engaged in a costly war for talent.
CEO Altman informed investors that the company expects several years of significant losses as it invests in technologies it believes will transform the economy.
In a speech at Stanford University last year, he said: “Whether we burn $500 million, $5 billion, or $50 billion a year, I don’t care. I really don’t care. It’s going to be expensive. But it’s going to be absolutely worth it.”
Meanwhile, the first signs of concern are beginning to emerge in the financial and technology worlds: several analysts are openly speaking of a possible “artificial intelligence bubble.” Billion-dollar valuations, unprecedented capital flows, and enormous media hype are reminding many of the dot-com era, when exponential growth and the promise of technological revolutions collided with an unsustainable economic reality.
While AI undoubtedly represents one of the greatest industrial revolutions of our time, the dizzying pace of investment, colossal operating expenses, and uncertainty over monetization models raise concerns that the sector may soon face inevitable downsizing. The upcoming quarterly earnings of the AI giants could be crucial in determining whether we are witnessing the birth of a new economic paradigm or the bursting of a new technology bubble.
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