OpenAI Added Over $1 Billion in ARR in the Last Month From Its API Business

In January 2026, Sam Altman shared a major update:

“We have added more than $1B of ARR in the last month just from our API business.”

This means OpenAI added over $1 billion in annual recurring revenue during the previous month, driven entirely by API usage, not consumer subscriptions.

The Growth Came From the OpenAI API, Not ChatGPT

While ChatGPT is OpenAI’s most visible product, this revenue growth came from companies using OpenAI’s API in production.

The API is widely used for:

• Customer support automation

• Sales and marketing systems

• Internal enterprise tools

• AI-powered SaaS products

As these systems scaled usage over the last month, OpenAI’s ARR increased accordingly.

Why This Is Significant

Adding over $1B of ARR in the last month shows that:

• AI spending is now recurring and predictable

• APIs can scale revenue faster than consumer products

• AI has become infrastructure, not experimentation

Very few software companies have ever added this level of recurring revenue in a single month.