Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, will appear on CNBC’s Squawk Box on August 20, 2025.
CNBC
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said late Wednesday that the artificial intelligence startup is not seeking a government backstop on its infrastructure efforts, clarifying earlier comments she made on stage during the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event.
At the event, Friar said OpenAI is considering building an ecosystem of banks, private equity, and a federal government “backstop” or “guarantee” that could help finance investments in cutting-edge chips. But in a LinkedIn post late Wednesday, Friar softened his stance.
“I used the word ‘backstop,’ but it obscured the point,” Frier wrote. “As the full text of my response shows, I wanted to make the case that America’s technological strength comes from building true industrial capacity, which requires the private sector and government to play a role.”
OpenAI has signed more than $1.4 trillion in infrastructure deals in recent months to build data centers it says are needed to meet surging demand. The agreement raised questions about how the company could afford to make such a large commitment.
On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, USA, OpenAI Inc. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has left the company and OpenAI Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has departed.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In September, Frier told CNBC that he expected OpenAI to generate about $13 billion in revenue this year. But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told investor Brad Gerstner on a weekend podcast that the company is making “much more than that.”
When Gerstner asked how OpenAI could commit to spending more than $1 trillion given its revenue, Altman was furious.
“Brad, if you want to sell your stock, I’ll find you a buyer,” Mr. Altman said. “sufficient.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Friar emphasized that the U.S. government will be a key partner as the company works to build out its infrastructure.
“As I said, the U.S. government is incredibly forward-looking and truly understands that AI is a national strategic asset,” Friar wrote.
Spotlight: OpenAI CFO Sarah Frier: ‘More compute, more revenue’ in response to concerns about Oracle-Nvidia deal
