The Conversation (0)
RocketBoots (ASX:ROC) presents a compelling high-growth investment opportunity with its AI-driven, scalable SaaS model, targeting a $2.4 billion+ market across retail and banking. Backed by strong enterprise adoption, a robust pipeline of customer sites, and a track record of delivering proven cost-saving solutions, ROC is primed for global expansion and sustained recurring revenue growth.
Since its inception in 2004 as an internet application consultancy, RocketBoots has evolved into a leader in AI-powered software, helping businesses enhance operations and elevate customer experiences. The company delivers proprietary solutions that drive measurable impact. Its technology addresses key business challenges—reducing operational costs, preventing self-checkout losses and staff fraud—while simultaneously improving service quality, increasing sales, and strengthening customer loyalty.
RocketBoots offers a unique, all-in-one software platform for loss prevention, workforce management, and customer experience optimization. Its advanced technology empowers retailers to detect potential theft and identify staff fraud at registers.
Company Highlights
- Mission: RocketBoots empowers global retail and banking giants to slash operating expenses and losses while boosting service, sales and customer loyalty.
- Proven Tech: Validated internationally by top retailers and banks, RocketBoots’ AI-powered software delivers a strong ROI and fuels long-term customer retention. Demand is proven.
- The Advantage: The company’s flagship platform uniquely unifies loss prevention, workforce management, and customer experience — a game-changer for integrated store and branch operations.
- Expert team: Led by seasoned executives and AI specialists, RocketBoots has a strong track record of delivering its cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning software internationally.
- Scale Without Limits: The company’s hybrid cloud/on-prem architecture enables rapid scaling across thousands of locations without massive infrastructure investment or staffing increases.
- Explosive Growth Potential: With a more than 35,000-site global enterprise pipeline and nine international trials already completed or nearing completion (including multinational retailers), RocketBoots is primed for global expansion.
- Massive Market: The more than $2.4 billion addressable market (just retail grocery and branch banking in current territories) is only the beginning. The company is eyeing adjacent sectors, new geographies, and expanding its software portfolio.
This RocketBoots profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
Click here to connect with RocketBoots (ASX:ROC) to receive an Investor Presentation
ROC:AU
RocketBoots Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects
GET YOUR FREE INVESTOR KIT
RocketBoots
Investor Insight
RocketBoots is a high-growth investment opportunity with an AI-based scalable SaaS model, targeting a $2.4 billion+ market in retail and banking. With strong enterprise adoption, a significant customer site pipeline, and proven cost-saving solutions, ROC is well-positioned for global expansion and recurring revenue growth.
Overview
RocketBoots (ASX:ROC), an Australian innovator in AI-driven computer vision software products, is transforming the retail and financial services landscape. Evolving from its 2004 inception as an internet application consultancy, RocketBoots now stands at the forefront of AI-powered software, empowering businesses to optimize operations and elevate customer experiences.
RocketBoots' proprietary solutions leverage the combined power of machine learning, advanced analytics and cloud computing to deliver tangible results. The company’s technology tackles critical challenges, slashing operational costs, mitigating self-checkout losses and staff fraud, while simultaneously boosting service, sales and customer loyalty.
Real-world Impact, Proven Results
Deployed across major banks, large retail chains, and trialing with multinational enterprises, RocketBoots' impact is undeniable. Four contracted customers on multi-year terms, coupled with a growing pipeline of trials and opportunities, demonstrate the company's ability to deliver significant value.
$2.4 Billion+ Market Opportunity
Operating in a high-growth sector, RocketBoots targets a total addressable market (TAM) exceeding $2.4 billion across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the European Union and North America. Its cloud-based platform enables seamless scalability, managing software deployments across global locations from its Sydney headquarters. RocketBoots utilizes a recurring revenue SaaS model, following a one-time activation fee, ensuring predictable and sustainable growth. Future expansion into new geographies and software portfolio additions promises further TAM growth.
Poised for Explosive Growth
With a global enterprise pipeline of over 35,000 retail and banking locations, RocketBoots is primed for significant expansion. The company is aggressively pursuing international growth, with the potential to secure contracts for over 10,000 sites from its existing nine customers who are already engaged in paid contracts, trials or evaluations for major/multi-year agreements.
Leadership and Innovation
RocketBoots is led by seasoned executives with deep expertise in AI, technology commercialization and financial markets. The company’s unwavering commitment to innovation, data security and enterprise-grade scalability mitigates key risks associated with new technology adoption.
Company Highlights
- Mission: RocketBoots empowers global retail and banking giants to slash operating expenses and losses while boosting service, sales and customer loyalty.
- Proven Tech: Validated internationally by top retailers and banks, RocketBoots’ AI-powered software delivers a strong ROI and fuels long-term customer retention. Demand is proven.
- The Advantage: The company’s flagship platform uniquely unifies loss prevention, workforce management, and customer experience — a game-changer for integrated store and branch operations.
- Expert team: Led by seasoned executives and AI specialists, RocketBoots has a strong track record of delivering its cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning software internationally.
- Scale Without Limits: The company’s hybrid cloud/on-prem architecture enables rapid scaling across thousands of locations without massive infrastructure investment or staffing increases.
- Explosive Growth Potential: With a more than 35,000-site global enterprise pipeline and nine international trials already completed or nearing completion (including multinational retailers), RocketBoots is primed for global expansion.
- Massive Market: The more than $2.4 billion addressable market (just retail grocery and branch banking in current territories) is only the beginning. The company is eyeing adjacent sectors, new geographies, and expanding its software portfolio.
Key Technology
RocketBoots provides a unique unified loss prevention, workforce management and customer experience software platform.
The company’s technology enables retailers to:
- Automatically detect potential theft at self-checkouts
- Automatically detect staff fraud at registers e.g. sweethearting
- Revolutionise workforce planning:
- Lower cost staffing with no service impact
- Improved service to reduce queue abandonment & lost sales
Rocketboots also enables retail banks to:
- Revolutionise omni channel workforce planning:
- Lower cost staffing with no service impact
- Improved service to reduce abandonment and lost sales
- Speed up digital channel customer response times by unlocking hybrid working opportunities through precise scheduling of branch staff latent capacity and idle time
- Computer vision – Analyzes live and recorded video feeds to detect, track and interpret human behavior, vehicle movement and in-store activity.
- A hybrid, highly scalable cloud/on-prem architecture that enables secure, remotely managed deployment across customer sites all over the world.
- Out-of-the-box user interfaces that show:
- SCO theft risk alerts
- Fraud risk alerts
- Real-time and historical service and workforce related analysis
- Future staff scheduling and rosters
- Edge computing – Reduces cloud bandwidth costs and enhances data security by processing video on-site while only syncing key insights to the cloud.
- APIs – Enables integration with enterprise systems such as POS (point-of-sale), workforce management and CRM (customer relationship management) platforms.
- Enterprise-grade security and compliance – Regularly penetration-tested and aligned with the security requirements of global banks and retailers.
Retail Applications
Reduce loss and staff costs whilst simultaneously improving customer experience and productivity.
Banking Applications
RocketBoots enables banks to materially reduce operational expenses whilst simultaneously improving customer experience, loyalty & NPS.
Leadership Team
Joel Rappolt – Chief Executive Officer
An experienced technology entrepreneur, Joel Rappolt joined RocketBoots in 2007 and has been CEO since 2013. He has led the company's transition from delivering app development services into developing software products that leverage machine learning, computer vision and IoT to solve longstanding business problems.
Robin Hilliard – Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Robin Hilliard founded RocketBoots in 2004 and has guided its evolution into a focus on computer vision research and software products. With over four decades of experience in software development, he has been the CTO since 2013.
Roy Mckelvie – Independent Chair and Non-executive Director
Roy Mckelvie is the chairman of Encompass Corporation, Wagesafe Limited and Infocus Wealth Management. He is the former CEO of Transfield Holdings and Gresham Private Equity, and previous managing director and Asian head of Deutsche Bank Capital Partners in Hong Kong .
Aaron Seeto – Chief Financial Officer
Aaron Seeto has more than 13 years of experience as an outsourced CFO for private and public companies across various industries, including technology, legal and financial services, and hospitality.
Karl Medak – Non-executive Director
Karl Medak has nearly 40 years of experience in the information and communications technology sector, having worked with organizations such as Telstra, Ericsson Australia and Lend Lease Communications. He co-founded The Frame Group in 2000 and has been a non-executive director of RocketBoots since 2007.
Cameron Petricevic – Company Secretary and Non-executive Director
Cameron Petricevic has more than 17 years of experience in the financial industry, with roles at AXA Asia Pacific Holdings and Acorn Capital. He is a partner at Kentgrove Equity Partners and has extensive experience in valuations, mergers & acquisitions and portfolio management.Superpowers for in-person service businesses using AI
Tech 5: US Government Strikes Big Tech Deal, Perplexity Plots Expansion
1. US government strikes controversial Big Tech deal
On Monday (August 11), the Washington Post reported on a deal between the US government and tech giants NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) (NASDAQ:AMD). It stipulates that the tech companies must surrender 15 percent of revenue from Chinese sales of NVIDIA's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips.
Anonymous sources told the news outlet that this condition was imposed as a prerequisite for granting the companies export licenses to sell their products in China. The move that has prompted legal concerns among trade experts who say the fee could be construed as an unconstitutional trade tax.
“To call this unusual or unprecedented would be a staggering understatement,” Stephen Olson, a former US trade negotiator, told Bloomberg. “What we are seeing is in effect the monetization of US trade policy in which US companies must pay the US government for permission to export.”
AMD, NVIDIA and Intel performance, August 12 to 15, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
Meanwhile, shares of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose as much as 4.6 percent on Tuesday (August 12) following a "candid and constructive" meeting between CEO Lip-Bu Tan and US President Donald Trump on Monday.
The meeting came after Trump called for Tan's removal last week.
According to a separate Bloomberg article, the US government is considering taking a stake in the chipmaker to help it establish a planned factory hub in Ohio; the company once promised it would be the world’s largest chipmaking facility. Tan has not confirmed or denied the report, but discussions are said to be ongoing. Sources told Bloomberg the government is considering using funds from the Biden administration’s Chips Act to fund the stake.
2. Amazon to expand grocery delivery services
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares rose as much as 1.3 percent on Wednesday (August 13) after the commerce company announced plans to significantly expand its grocery services.
On Wednesday, the company said its same-day delivery service will now include fresh groceries, including produce, meat and dairy, in over 1,000 cities, with plans to expand into more than 2,300 by the end of the year.
The service is included in Amazon Prime memberships for orders over US$25. Smaller orders and orders from non-members will require fees of US$2.99 and US$12.99, respectively.
3. CoreWeave shares drop after mixed earnings report
Artificial intelligence (AI) data center operator CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) reported mixed Q2 results on Tuesday, with revenue more than doubling year-on-year to US$1.2 billion, beating estimates of US$1.08 billion, and a revenue backlog of US$30.1 billion. However, the growth came at a high cost. The company reported a record US$2.9 billion in capital expenditures for the quarter, and operating expenses jumped by 276 percent to US$1.19 billion.
CoreWeave performance, August 12 to 15, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
The company also reported losses of US$291 million, larger than the US$190.6 million analysts had estimated.
Shares of CoreWeave opened more than 10 percent lower on Wednesday and declined throughout the week, closing at US$99.97 on Friday (August 15) compared to Monday’s opening price of US$134.80.
4. Perplexity bids on Chrome, prepares for fresh funding round
AI startup Perplexity made a US$34.5 billion bid for Google's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) web browser, Chrome, in a move to secure its future in the AI search market. Perplexity told the Wall Street Journal that the unsolicited offer would be funded with the help of outside investors. The company's advance comes as Google faces a potential divestiture following an antitrust trial that found it had illegally monopolized online search and search advertising.
OpenAI has also expressed interest in acquiring Chrome.
On Thursday, Business Insider reported that Perplexity is preparing for another round of funding, which would mark its sixth fundraiser in 18 months. The company is reportedly seeking a post-money valuation of US$20 billion. This comes barely one month after the startup achieved a US$18 billion valuation.
The rapid succession of these events underscores the intense, high-stakes competition among AI startups to secure foundational assets and challenge established tech giants.
Canadian AI startup Cohere secured US$500 million in fresh funding on Thursday from a group of investors that included NVIDIA and AMD, bringing its valuation to US$6.8 billion. The company also onboarded former executives from Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META).
5. Apple plans product expansion
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares climbed as high as 1.7 percent on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported on the company’s planned expansion into robotics, home security and smart displays.
The new products are aimed at strengthening Apple's product ecosystem, which has paled in comparison to offerings from tech rivals like Amazon and Meta.
Apple performance, August 12 to 15, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
Some of the new devices slated for future release include a tabletop virtual companion robot, a long-planned advanced Siri model with a visual personality, a smart speaker with display capabilities and home security cameras.
Apple finished the week at US$231.59, a 1.7 percent gain from Monday.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Tech 5: Tesla Pulls Plug on Dojo, Chipmakers Largely Exempt from Trump's Tariffs
Markets appear to have disregarded the warnings, as economic data released this week has revived expectations for interest rate cuts. Stephen Miran, US President Donald Trump’s interim selection for Adriana Kugler’s position as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, has further fueled these expectations. According to CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) Fedwatch tool, traders now anticipate a nearly 90 percent probability of a rate cut next month.
Furthermore, exemptions to the Trump administration's tariffs for companies investing in US manufacturing capacity led to a midweek rally in tech stocks that persisted through to Friday (August 8).
1. OpenAI's busy week
On Wednesday (August 6), OpenAI unveiled the long-awaited GPT-5 version of ChatGPT, which CEO Sam Altman described as a “significant step” along the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Altman declared that GPT-5 gives users PhD-level expert assistance on any subject, with fewer hallucinations, as well as superior coding abilities that could lead to an era of “software on demand."
“Something like GPT-5 would be pretty much unimaginable in any other time in history,” he said during a pre-briefing with journalists on Wednesday. While GPT-5 exhibits signs of broad intelligence, Altman clarified that it lacks a key characteristic of AGI: the ability to learn and improve autonomously.
Concurrently, OpenAI for Government announced it is partnering with the US General Services Administration to offer ChatGPT Enterprise to the federal executive branch workforce for US$1 per agency for the next year.
In a statement to Wired, Altman said the agreement was part of Trump’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan, which is geared at leveraging AI to better serve the American people.
Additionally, the company reportedly engaged in early discussions this week for a secondary stock sale that would increase its valuation to US$500 billion. During an interview with Schwab Network, Ben Emons, chief investment officer and founder of FedWatch Advisors, said OpenAI’s valuation could hit US$1 trillion.
A recent report by the Information found that OpenAI has hit an annualized run rate of US$12 billion, roughly double the US$6 billion recorded in revenue in the first half of 2025.
OpenAI also introduced a pair of freely available models this week, which Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will offer to cloud-computing clients.
2. Stocks react to chip tariff exemptions
Trump announced plans to impose a nearly 100 percent tariff on semiconductor chips on Wednesday, but carved out an exemption for companies investing in US manufacturing capacity.
After a meeting at the White House, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook pledged an additional US$100 billion investment in US manufacturing capacity, bringing its total commitment to US$600 billion over the next four years.
However, final assembly is expected to remain overseas “for a while,” according to Cook, and the announcement did not include any mention of future iPhone assembly in the US.
Apple performance, August 5 to 8, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
The pledge led to a significant market reaction, with Apple shares climbing over 4 percent, leading gains on Wall Street.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) also saw strong gains after it was reported that National Development Council Chief Liu Chin-ching told parliament that the company will be exempt since it has factories in the US, referring to fabrication plants currently under construction in Arizona.
However, he added that some of Taiwan’s chipmakers will be affected.
Likewise, South Korean trade officials stated that Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) and SK Hynix (KRX:000660) will both avoid the tariffs due to their investments in US manufacturing facilities. Samsung has two chip fabrication plants in Texas, while SK Hynix is building a new advanced chip packaging and R&D facility in Indiana.
3. Firefly Aerospace makes explosive Nasdaq debut
Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) made a strong debut on the Nasdaq Global Market on Thursday (August 7).
The stock opened at US$70 per share, a significant jump from its initial public offering price of US$45.
After first targeting between US$35 and US$39 per share, the company raised the price from US$41 to US$43 on Tuesday (August 5). Firefly was valued at over US$2 billion after a Series D funding round in November 2024.
Its opening price represented a further increase. After briefly topping US$73.80, the company closed its first day on the market at US$60.35, raising US$868.3 million and achieving a valuation of approximately US$8.5 billion.
The company experienced a moderate pullback on Friday, opening at US$54.85 before briefly touching US$57.07; it then closed the week at US$50.17.
4. Tesla desbands Dojo team
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk confirmed reports that the company is disbanding its Dojo supercomputer team, posting to X on Thursday evening:
“It doesn’t make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs.
“The Tesla AI5, AI6 and subsequent chips will be excellent for inference and at least pretty good for training. All effort is focused on that.”
Tesla intended for Dojo to facilitate the training of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems.
Sources for Bloomberg, which first reported the story, said Tesla will rely on partners like NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Samsung for chip manufacturing.
This move contradicts Musk’s commitments to “double down on Dojo” during his company’s second quarter earnings call on July 23. The development follows a letter sent to shareholders by two Tesla directors on Monday explaining the board's decision to grant Musk a US$23.7 billion stock award.
Robyn Denholm, chair of Tesla's board of directors, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, a director, said the decision was driven by Tesla's transition from electric vehicles to AI and robotics.
The letter emphasizes the critical need to motivate Musk, stating that his involvement is essential for attracting and retaining talent at Tesla, especially as competition for AI talent intensifies.
5. Palantir reports solid growth in Q2
Major software company Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) reported its Q2 earnings on Monday, revealing revenue growth of 48 percent to US$1.003 billion. Shares of the company opened over 7 percent higher on Tuesday and continued to rise, finishing the week up nearly 18 percent.
Palantir Technologies performance, August 5 to 8, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
“This was a phenomenal quarter. We continue to see the astonishing impact of AI leverage," said Alex C. Karp, co-founder and CEO of Palantir, in a press release. “We are guiding to the highest sequential quarterly revenue growth in our company’s history, representing 50 percent year-over-year growth.”
Free cashflow rose by 282 percent to US$568.7 million. The company is projecting further revenue growth of around 49 percent in the third quarter. Its share price is up over 145 percent year-to-date after starting the year at US$76.20. As of Friday’s closing bell, shares of Palantir were trading for US$186.96.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
How to Invest in OpenAI's ChatGPT
In September 2024, Reuters reported that OpenAI was planning a restructuring from a non-profit to a for-profit company in order to make it "more attractive to investors." However, after encountering backlash and potential legal conflicts, in May 2025 OpenAI's management decided to remain a non-profit while still converting its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation.
OpenAI completed a new round of funding totaling US$40 billion in late March 2025 projected to bring its valuation to US$300 billion. Japanese multinational investment firm SoftBank made up 75 percent of the funding, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and investment firms Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital and Thrive Capital also took part in the raise.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) awarded a US$200 million contract to OpenAI in June 2025 to provide the DoD with artificial intelligence tools for addressing national security challenges, including cyber defense and warfare.
Many investors are wondering if it's possible to invest in ChatGPT stock, and if there are other ways to invest in generative AI. Here the Investing News Network (INN) answers those questions and more, shedding light on this new landscape.
In this article
- What is OpenAI's ChatGPT?
- What is the Stargate Project?
- How much has Microsoft invested in OpenAI?
- What is Elon Musk's relationship to OpenAI?
- OpenAI criticisms and lawsuits
- What's the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?
- When will OpenAI go public?
- Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?
- FAQs for investing in OpenAI and ChatGPT
What is OpenAI's ChatGPT?
Created by San Francisco-based tech lab OpenAI, ChatGPT is a generative AI software application that uses a machine learning technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to emulate human-written conversations based on a large range of user prompts. This kind of software is better known as an AI chatbot.
ChatGPT learns language by training on texts gleaned from across the internet, including online encyclopedias, books, academic journals, news sites and blogs. Based on this training, the AI chatbot generates text by making predictions about which words (or tokens) can be strung together to produce the most suitable response.
More than a million people engaged with ChatGPT within the first week of its launch for free public testing on November 30, 2022. The introduction of ChatGPT quickly ushered in a new era in the tech industry.
“With the launch of ChatGPT late in 2022, the true scale of its disruptive potential was more realized across the world in 2023,” said Naseem Husain, senior vice president and exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategist at Horizons ETFs, in an interview with the Investing News Network. “Its success has sparked a wave of generative and chat AI models, from Midjourney to Grok.”
Based on this success, OpenAI created a more powerful version of the ChatGPT system called GPT-4, which was released in March 2023. This iteration of ChatGPT can accept visual inputs, is much more precise and can display a higher level of expertise in various subjects. Because of this, GPT-4 can describe images in vivid detail and ace standardized tests.
Unlike its predecessor, GPT-4 doesn't have any time limits on what information it can access; however, AI researcher and professor Dr. Oren Etzioni has said that the chatbot is still terrible at discussing the future and generating new ideas. It also hasn't lost its tendency to deliver incorrect information with too high a degree of confidence.
Further improving on its product, in May 2024 OpenAI launched Chat GPT-4o, with the o standing for omni. OpenAI describes GPT-4o as "a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, image, and video and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs."
This version has done away with the lagging response time afflicting GPT-4. This proves especially helpful for producing immediate translations during conversations between speakers of different languages. It also allows users to interrupt the chatbot to pose a new query to modify responses.
More recently, in December 2024, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Pro subscriptions targeting engineers and academics. For US$200 monthly, users have nearly unlimited access to all ChatGPT models and tools.
The ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT-4 platforms are free to use, and can be accessed via the web. Those with an iPhone or iPad can also use ChatGPT through an app, and an Android version launched in July 2023. OpenAI also launched a paid subscription, ChatGPT Plus for business use, in August 2023. ChatGPT Plus gives users access to GPT-4 and the newest iteration GPT-4o.
What is the Stargate Project?
The Stargate Project is an AI joint venture focused on building new AI infrastructure in the US through US$500 billion in investments. It was announced on January 21, 2025.
Stargate’s initial funding is coming from OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and UAE-based technology fund MGX. In addition to OpenAI and Oracle, Stargate’s technology partners include Microsoft, NVIDIA, and British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM).
Newly re-elected US President Trump unveiled Stargate during a press conference at the White House highlighting the importance of investment in US AI infrastructure. During the announcement, OpenAI’s Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son credited President Trump’s return to office as a major catalyst in making Stargate a reality. The construction of data centers for the Stargate Project are already underway in Texas, according to Ellison.
How much has Microsoft invested in OpenAI?
Ascannio / Shutterstock
Over the years, Microsoft has reportedly invested nearly US$14 billion in OpenAI to help the small tech firm create its ultra-powerful AI chatbot.
As for how Microsoft could benefit from its investment in OpenAI, OpenAI officially licensed its technologies to Microsoft in 2020 in a then-exclusive partnership. Indeed, Pitchbook has described the deal as an “unprecedented milestone” for generative AI technology. Since then, Microsoft has made good use of OpenAI’s technology in developing new advancement in its Azure cloud computing business.
However, the relationship between the two has changed in recent months.
Notably, Microsoft is not a financier of the Stargate Project joint venture, and is instead just described as a technology partner. According to OpenAI’s press release, the new joint venture builds on its existing partnership with Microsoft.
Microsoft’s lack of a funding role in Stargate led some to wonder if the trillion-dollar tech firm had soured on its relationship with OpenAI. This conclusion was understandable given reports that Microsoft refused to make a bigger contribution than the US$750 million it invested during the OpenAI US$6.6 billion funding round in October 2024.
Additionally, Microsoft changed the contract between the two companies and is no longer the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, but has the right of first refusal for deals the AI firm may make with other cloud companies.
As Bloomberg technology reporter Dina Bass explained, Microsoft stands to benefit from its role as a technology partner without having to invest a dime into the project.
“Microsoft views the revised contract with OpenAI as advantageous, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. The software giant retains its share of OpenAI’s revenue and is the largest investor in a company that may now become even more valuable — though the size of that stake could change as the startup works to restructure as a for-profit,” wrote Bass. “And Microsoft also still has access to OpenAI models, even if they’re trained in a data center funded by Softbank or Oracle.”
Yet, there are reports that Microsoft and OpenAI's relationship is on the brink of a big breakup. The tech giant has been pushing for a much larger percentage of OpenAI's revenues than the 20 percent it currently enjoys. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is considering making antitrust complaints about Microsoft to regulators even though the two companies are still undergoing high level discussions about the future of the partnership.
Elon Musk's position on OpenAI
DIA TV / Shutterstock
OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, its current CEO, as well as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and other big-name investors, such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Musk left his position on OpenAI's board of directors in 2018 to focus on Tesla and its pursuit of autonomous vehicle technology.
A few days after ChatGPT became available for public testing, Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say, “ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI.” That same day, he announced that X had shut the door on OpenAI’s access to its database so it could no longer use it for RLHF training.
His reason: “OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”
Furthering his feud with OpenAI, Musk filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 for an alleged breach of contract. The crux of his complaint was that OpenAI has broken the "founding agreement" made between the founders (Altman, Greg Brockman and himself) that the company would remain a non-profit. Altman and OpenAI have denied there was such an agreement and that Musk was keen on an eventual for-profit structure.
Musk dropped the lawsuit three months later without giving a reason, reported Reuters. The day before he dropped the lawsuit, he reacted to the news that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is partnering with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT with Apple devices. On X, Musk declared, "If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS (operating system) level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.” It should be noted that OpenAI has said queries completed on Apple devices will not be stored by OpenAI. By August 2024, Musk had resumed his litigation in federal court.
It seems that the US government also has questions about the restructuring of the private company and the involvement of tech giant Microsoft, as reported by Bloomberg. In early January 2025, the Financial Press also reported the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has raised questions about the potential anti-trust violations in the newly emerging AI technology space arising from Microsoft's partnership with and investments in OpenAI.
Of course, Musk took to X to weigh in on the Stargate Project, suggesting OpenAI and its partners don’t actually have the US$500 million they’ve pledged to invest. Sam Altman was quick to reply, telling Musk he’s mistaken and inviting him to visit their data center under construction in Texas.
However, Musk is not alone in his skepticism. For example, Atreides Management Chief Investment Office Gavin Baker also questioned the deal on X. “Stargate is a great name but the $500b is a ridiculous number and no one should take it seriously,” Baker wrote, backing up his statement by explaining the financial positions of each of the partners. “Nowhere close to $500b. Everyone should just start issuing press releases for $1 trillion AI projects.”
OpenAI criticisms and lawsuits
While ChatGPT has served as a major step forward in generative AI technology, there are many technical and ethical concerns with the program that have emerged since it launched, including fears over job destruction and targeted disinformation campaigns.
Accuracy of information in ChatGPT's answers is not guaranteed. Its selection of which words to string together are actually predictions — not as fallible as mere guesses, but still fallible. Even the 4.0 version is “still is not fully reliable (it “hallucinates” facts and makes reasoning errors),” says the company, which emphasizes that users should exercise caution when employing the technology.
Indeed, ChatGPT's failings can have dangerous real-life consequences. Among other negative applications, the tech can be used to spread misinformation, carry out phishing email scams or write malicious code.
There’s also the fear among teachers that the technology is leading to an unwelcome rise in academic dishonesty, with students using ChatGPT to write essays or complete their homework.
“Teachers and school administrators have been scrambling to catch students using the tool to cheat, and they are fretting about the havoc ChatGPT could wreak on their lesson plans,” writes New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose.
Many lawsuits against OpenAI have emerged as well. Multiple news outlets, including the the New York Times, have launched copyright lawsuits against OpenAI, and some of the plaintiffs are also seeking damages from the private tech firm’s very public partner Microsoft.
Additionally, the Authors Guild, which represents a group of prominent authors, launched a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI that is calling for a licensing system that would allow authors to opt out of having their books used to train AI, and would require AI companies to pay for the material they do use.
In October, OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji blew the whistle on the company, reporting that the firm was violating US copyright laws. He died one month later in what was ruled a suicide, but the investigation is still open.
Cybersecurity risks are also a concern for ChatGPT users, and recent events along these lines add validity to Musk's warning. For one, in 2024 ChatGPT for macOS was discovered to be breaching Apple's security rules by storing data as plain text rather than encryption, making it possible for other apps to access.
What's the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?
What about the long-term goals for OpenAI and ChatGPT? For most of the tech leaders in this space, the end game is artificial general intelligence (AGI) — a system that can perform any function the human brain can, including self-teaching, abstract thinking and understanding cause and effect.
As uptake increases, AI technology is taking over the role of humans and will likely continue doing so in a number of fields, from content creation and customer service to transcription and translation services, and even in graphic design, software engineering and paralegal fields.
In addition to Microsoft's use of the ChatGPT technology as part of Copilot, other companies are working with OpenAI to incorporate the technology into their platforms, including Canva, Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL), Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE), Intercom, Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM), Stripe, Tinder, Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and Visa (NYSE:V).
For 2025, OpenAI is focusing on developing agentic AI capabilities into its ChatGPT platform. Agentic AI, a part of the evolution towards AGI, involves AI systems and models that can act autonomously and complete tasks without much human guidance. Early in January, OpenAI announced the rollout of new task features for ChatGPT Pro, Plus and Teams users. While still in the beta stage, these features allow users to schedule future tasks to be completed by ChatGPT, such as a weekly news brief or reminders about important meetings.
OpenAI first debuted its foray into agentic AI in September 2024 with the introduction of ChatGPT o1, stating "We've developed a new series of AI models designed to spend more time thinking before they respond." The release of the next iterations of this model, ChatGPT o3 mini and o4 mini happened in the first half of 2025.
The recent release of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI assistant may present a problem for OpenAI and the US tech industry as a whole. In what tech gurus like Marc Andreesen call AI’s Sputnik moment, DeepSeek unseated ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app in the Apple App Store, at reportedly a fraction of the cost. For reference, in 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik, the earth’s first artificial satellite, beating out the United States and sparking a Cold War space exploration race between the two nations.
The DeepSeek launch set off a significant sell off in technology stocks on January 27, 2025, especially among the Magnificent Seven members, including NVIDIA, Microsoft and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
When will OpenAI go public?
OpenAI stock is not currently publicly traded, and following the May 2025 decision to remain a non-profit, there are no signs of an on initial public offering (IPO) in the works for 2025. For now, investors can gain exposure through related tech companies discussed below.
Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?
While most companies specializing in generative AI remain in the venture capital stage, there are plenty of AI stocks for those interested in the space. INN's article 5 Canadian Artificial Intelligence Stocks, ASX AI Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies, Global AI Stocks: 9 Biggest Companies in 2025 and 12 Generative AI Stocks to Watch as ChatGPT Soars includes some examples.
Other than companies directly tied to generative AI technology, which stocks are likely to get a boost from generative AI advancements?
There are several verticals in the tech industry with indirect exposure to AI chatbot technology, such as semiconductors, network equipment providers, cloud providers, central processing unit manufacturers and internet of things.
Some of the publicly traded companies in these verticals include:
- Graphics processing unit leader NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
- The world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM)
- Computer memory and data storage producer Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)
- Digital communications firm Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)
- Networking products provider Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)
- Semiconductor producer Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ:MRVL)
- Cloud-computing Amazon Web Services' parent company Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
- Bluechip multinational technology company IBM (NYSE:IBM)
- Major semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Investors who don’t like to put all their eggs in one basket can check out these 5 Artificial Intelligence ETFs. And if you’re looking for a more general overview of the market, INN has you covered with How to Invest in Artificial Intelligence.
You can also take a look back at the market with our AI Market 2024 Year-End Review and AI Market Update: Q2 2025 in Review, or read projections for AI this year in our AI Market Forecast: 3 Top Trends that will Affect AI in 2025. Generative AI is also a major theme in the Top 10 Emerging Technologies to Watch.
FAQs for investing in OpenAI and ChatGPT
How is OpenAI funded?
OpenAI raised US$57.9 billion over 11 funding rounds from 2016 to March 2025.
Top investors include technology investment firm Thrive Capital, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and revolutionary technology investment firm Founders Fund.
What is the market value of ChatGPT/OpenAI?
OpenAI has a market valuation of US$300 billion as of June 2025. The company’s annualized revenue reached the US$10 billion mark in June 2025, up from the US$5.5 billion achieved in December 2024.
Does ChatGPT use NVIDIA chips?
ChatGPT’s distributed computing infrastructure depends upon powerful servers with multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). High-performance NVIDIA GPU chips are preferred for this application as they also provide excellent Compute Unified Device Architecture support.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company that launched new AI-driven, open-source language models known as DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 into the market in January 2025. Reuters reports that "the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than $6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips."
DeepSeek-R1 is designed to compete with the performance of OpenAI-o1 across math, code, and reasoning tasks.
Can ChatGPT make stock predictions?
A University of Florida study from 2023 highlighted the potential for advanced language models such as ChatGPT to accurately predict movements in the stock market using sentiment analysis.
During the course of the study, ChatGPT outperformed traditional sentiment analysis methods, and the finance professors conducting the research concluded that “incorporating advanced language models into the investment decision-making process can yield more accurate predictions and enhance the performance of quantitative trading strategies.”
When to expect ChatGPT 5?
In June 2025, during an OpenAI podcast Sam Altman responded with, "Probably some time this summer," when asked about when the market can expect to see ChatGPT-5.
Previously, OpenAI filed a trademark application for ChatGPT-5 in mid-July 2023, which hinted that the next iteration of the generative AI technology is currently under development. There were rumors the company planned to complete training for ChatGPT-5 by the end of 2023, but this did not materialize. PC Guide noted in April 2024 that Sam Altman had teased an “amazing new model this year" in an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast.
In November 2024, Altman confirmed that ChatGPT-5 wouldn't likely hit the market until later in 2025 as the company switched its focus to ChatGPT o1 and its successors.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2023.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Tech 5: Tesla and Samsung Strike Deal, Palo Alto to Acquire CyberArk
1. Samsung and Tesla strike deal
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk announced a US$16.5 billion deal with Samsung Electronics (HKEX:2814) that would see the electronics conglomerate produce AI6 semiconductors for the carmaker until 2033.
Production will take place at Samsung's new fab in Taylor, Texas. The news led to a 6.8 percent rise in Samsung's shares on Monday (July 28), as well as a 1 percent increase for Tesla. Last week, the carmaker saw its share price decline after reporting a 12 percent drop in revenue, marking its biggest quarterly decline in over 10 years.
Musk called the deal's strategic importance “hard to overstate" in a post on X. “Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house,” Musk added in another post.
“The $16.5B number is just the bare minimum,” he also said. “Actual output is likely to be several times higher.”
2. Bell Canada and Cohere partner on sovereign AI
BCE (TSX:BCE,NYSE:BCE) and Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) company Cohere announced a partnership on Monday that will see them work together to provide AI services to Canadian companies and government agencies.
The deal is focused on sovereign AI, meaning all data will stay within Canada.
“At a critical time for Canada, we're proud to partner with Cohere to create a sovereign, full-stack AI solution, custom-built to support the Canadian government and business. Working together, we will both transform Canadian businesses through cutting-edge AI capabilities, while ensuring that the data remains secure and within Canada,” said Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE, previously known as Bell Canada Enterprises.
“Our partnership with Bell Canada will provide the Canadian government and enterprises with world-class options for sovereign, security-first AI," added Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of privately owned Cohere.
This has the potential to be truly transformative for organizations looking to massively increase their productivity and efficiency without any compromise on data security and privacy."
Under the terms of the deal, Bell will provide the physical infrastructure, including its national network and data centers. Meanwhile, Cohere will provide its powerful AI models to offer a secure, all-in-one AI solution. This helps Canadian organizations adopt new technology. It also ensures their sensitive information is kept safe at home.
3. Palo Alto Networks to acquire CyberArk
On Wednesday (July 30), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) announced plans to acquire Israeli AI cybersecurity firm CyberArk Software. The Wall Street Journal had reported on Tuesday (July 29) that they were in talks.
Under the terms of the agreement, CyberArk shareholders will receive US$45 cash and 2.2005 shares of Palo Alto per share of CyberArk. Palo Alto expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to its revenue growth and gross margin, and accretive to free cash flow per share in fiscal year 2028.
In a press release announcing the acquisition, Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto, said:
“Our market entry strategy has always been to enter categories at their inflection point, and we believe that moment for Identity Security is now. This strategy has guided our evolution from a next-gen firewall company into a multi-platform cybersecurity leader. Today, the rise of AI and the explosion of machine identities have made it clear that the future of security must be built on the vision that every identity requires the right level of privilege controls, not the 'IAM fallacy'. CyberArk is the definitive leader in Identity Security with durable, foundational technology that is essential for securing the AI era. Together, we will define the next chapter of cybersecurity.”
Udi Mokady, founder and executive chairman of CyberArk, called the news a "profound moment in CyberArk's journey," saying that they combination will accelerate the mission it began more than two decades ago.
Palo Alto Networks performance, July 29 to August 1, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of Palo Alto's 2026 fiscal year, subject to regulatory and CyberArk shareholder approval. Although Palo Alto hit a high of US$210.39 on Tuesday, shares of the company declined by 5 percent following the announcement and closed 17.83 percent below Tuesday’s high.
4. Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple report quarterly results
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) ended its fourth fiscal quarter of 2025 with record revenue, driven by strong AI and cloud service growth. Microsoft Cloud revenue exceeded US$168 billion, a 23 percent increase, and Intelligent Cloud, including Azure, grew 26 percent to US$29.9 billion, with Azure up 39 percent. Although significant AI investments (over 100 million monthly Copilot users) caused a slight gross margin dip, the firm's operating income rose 23 percent.
CEO Satya Nadella expressed confidence in long-term growth. For her part, CFO Amy Hood noted that commercial bookings surpassed US$100 billion; she anticipates double-digit revenue and operating income growth in the 2026 fiscal year, though data center capacity may remain constrained through the first half of the period.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) also had a positive Q2, with revenue up 22 percent to US$47.52 billion and net income up 36 percent to US$18.34 billion. Earnings per share rose 38 percent to US$7.14.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the company's focus on “personal superintelligence.”
The Family of Apps saw daily active people increase 6 percent to 3.48 billion, and advertising revenue grew with impressions up 11 percent and average price per ad up 9 percent.
Q3 revenue is projected to be US$47.5 billion to US$50.5 billion. However, regulatory challenges in the EU could impact European revenue. Meta is also heavily investing in AI and infrastructure, with 2025 capital expenditures narrowed to US$66 billion to US$72 billion, and similar growth expected in 2026.
Microsoft, Apple, Meta Platforms and Amazon performance, July 29 to August 1, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) delivered a strong second quarter, with overall net sales growing 13 percent year-on-year to $167.7 billion. The company's net income also saw a significant increase, rising 35 percent year-on-year to $18.16 billion.
The growth was fueled by strong performance across all three of its major segments. The North America segment, which accounted for 60 percent of total net sales, saw a revenue increase of 11 percent year-on-year to $100.07 billion.
The International segment saw its net sales grow by 16 percent year-on-year to $36.76 billion, with a particularly notable 448 percent increase in operating income. Amazon Web Services continued its steady performance, with net sales reaching $30.87 billion, up 17 percent year-on-year. Despite its strong revenue growth, the company's trailing 12 month free cashflow declined by 66 percent year-on-year to $18.18 billion.
Finally, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) posted strong results for its third fiscal quarter of 2025, with total net sales increasing to US$94.04 billion, up from US$85.78 billion in the same quarter last year.
The company's net income rose to US$23.43 billion, an increase from US$21.45 billion year-on-year. This performance translated to earnings per share of US$1.57, up from US$1.40 in the prior year. The growth was primarily driven by its products and services, with the iPhone and Mac categories seeing notable increases in net sales. Apple's services segment also continued its expansion, with sales rising to US$27.42 billion from US$24.21 billion a year ago.
5. Figma makes public debut
Figma's highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) generated significant buzz this week, with its share price and valuation surging dramatically on its first day of trading.
On Monday, Figma increased its IPO price range to US$30 to US$32 a share, up from US$25 to US$28. This new pricing valued the company at up to a US$18.7 billion market cap and a US$17.2 billion enterprise value. According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter indicated that the IPO was approaching 40 times oversubscribed.
The company had its first day of trading on the NYSE on Thursday (July 31).
Figma’s shares surged by 250 percent from US$33 to US$115 following a blockbuster IPO, with the company raising US$1.22 billion. Its market cap reached US$67 billion by the end of the market’s close. On Friday, Figma opened at US$134.82 before pulling back alongside other major tech stocks and risk assets to finish the week at US$122. Its debut surge and end-of-day valuation made it one of the largest and most successful tech IPOs in recent memory.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
RocketBoots Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects