OpenAI is expanding the use of its artificial intelligence technology across specialized industries, including chip design, life sciences and financial services, as demand for task-specific AI solutions grows.
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said the company is also focusing on competitive pricing as businesses increasingly seek clear returns on their AI investments.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco, Friar said OpenAI had used its own AI models to help develop its Jalapeno chip. The chip design reached the “tape-out” stage — when a design is finalized and sent for manufacturing — within nine months.
Friar said OpenAI recently reduced the price of its lower-cost Luna model by 80%, contributing to an approximately tenfold increase in usage.
She also said OpenAI’s Codex coding tool now has about 25 million users, while enterprise revenue grew 32% from June to July, compared with 20% growth in the company’s overall annualized revenue during the same period.
According to Friar, OpenAI’s enterprise and consumer businesses had reached roughly an even split by the middle of the year, ahead of the company’s target of achieving that balance by the end of 2026.
OpenAI is facing growing competition from Chinese open-weight AI models and other major AI companies as businesses look for affordable alternatives.
Friar said OpenAI’s lower-cost models could be cheaper to deploy through cloud providers than some Chinese open-source alternatives, citing Z.ai’s GLM 5.3 as an example.
The company’s strategy reflects a broader shift in the AI industry toward specialized applications, lower costs and business models designed to demonstrate measurable value for customers.
Tags
World News