The flurry of figures surrounding OpenAI is causing confusion in the tech sector; Technoprobe performs well in Milan

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The media are reporting figures on OpenAI, causing confusion in the tech sector. Thus, following rumours about the annualised turnover of the company that owns ChatGPT, Technoprobe is rising in Milan, whilst STMicroelectronics is slipping. The other major European players in the sector are also seeing mixed movements: Infineon is up slightly in Frankfurt, whilst in Amsterdam, ASM Holding and ASML are down by half a percentage point and BE Semiconductor has even lost 0.8 per cent. Meanwhile, in after-hours trading on Wall Street, the chip giants – from Nvidia (+1.4 per cent) and TSMC (+1.2 per cent) to Broadcom (+1.9 per cent) and AMD (+1.8 per cent) – are regaining ground following the sharp falls seen the previous day.

It was precisely the estimates regarding OpenAI’s figures shared by the media that put a damper on buying during Thursday’s trading session. According to an article in the Financial Times, ChatGPT’s parent company, during a fundraising campaign in September, reportedly shared with investors an annualised turnover — a projection of annual sales based on a shorter period — of $50 billion, which is $20 billion lower than what had initially been leaked. This news thus represented yet another ‘blow’ to a sector already beset by doubts regarding the returns on the massive investments channelled into its development and the costs of infrastructure such as data centres, as well as concerns about its potential impact on the labour market and the economy in general. Earlier in the day, however, estimates from Bloomberg sparked some optimism amongst investors: according to the news agency, the company could reach or exceed $70 billion.

“The price trend suggests that investors are becoming more selective about the sectors in which they wish to gain exposure and, importantly, the price they are willing to pay for future growth,” comments Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. Questions about the return on massive spending on artificial intelligence continue to dominate the debate, however. “It has been a nervous few weeks for the artificial intelligence sector and, with US yields near multi-year highs, investors’ risk appetite has cooled,” said Josh Gilbert, chief analyst for Asia-Pacific at eToro. “The litmus test,” according to the analyst, “will come with the start of the earnings season in the coming weeks, when the companies investing the most heavily in AI will tell us whether they are still willing to continue doing so.” In particular, investors will be looking for signs that revenue and profits can keep pace with the capital required to develop and operate artificial intelligence models.

Furthermore, according to Banca Akros, the uncertainty arising from the estimates of OpenAI’s annualised turnover is also linked to the attempt to compare them with those of its rival Anthropic – which stand at 65 billion – although these are calculated differently.