OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar reportedly at odds with Sam Altman over spending discipline as AI capex is set to hit $660 billion

Sarah Friar, OpenAI's CFO, is reportedly worried the company is spending too much money on data centers and may not be generating enough revenue to support its contracts, according to the Wall Street Journal. She wants more discipline over spending, which has caused disagreement with CEO Sam Altman. Both called the report "ridiculous" in a joint statement.

Corporate spending on AI data centers by the four big cloud service providers could hit as much as $660 billion this year, according to J.P. Morgan research—a 66% increase in capital expenditures over 2025. Upper estimates for 2026 include Google up to $185 billion, Meta up to $135 billion, Amazon $200 billion, and Microsoft $140 billion.

The timing creates poor optics for OpenAI, which is ramping up toward an IPO later this year, though the company is expected to address the matter before its S-1 filing.