OpenAI's CFO says data center spending goes on despite the vote, and Anthropic's filing shows what that costs

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said Friday that the company will keep investing in AI infrastructure even after voters in several states turned against data centers on Tuesday. CNBC reported her remarks from an interview with Sara Eisen at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit; Investing.com carried the same headline. "It will continue to mean that we raise capital," Friar said.

She also said OpenAI is still looking at a 2027 market debut, and that a funding round is ongoing. CNBC's text gives the round's pre-money valuation as "$1.25 billion", which is evidently a slip for a far larger figure. We are not repeating it, and we have no confirmed number for the round.

The voters and the market

CNBC cites a Ballotpedia analysis plus its own results gathering: of 41 local ballot measures in 10 states, voters backed restrictions or rejected pro-development measures in all but one. Our earlier story covers how that count was built and where it is soft. The same day's backdrop is the chip selloff: CNBC says the Nasdaq had its steepest drop in 19 months on Thursday, and shares recovered some on Friday. By our chart the Nasdaq 100 stood 13.3% below its Oct. 6 peak at last reading Friday afternoon.

The number behind the number: what "keep investing" costs

Friar's rival is further along in the paperwork, and its filing shows the scale of what the whole group is committing to. In its amended S-1 filed Nov. 2 on SEC EDGAR, Anthropic says it has entered into purchase commitments and leases, including some not yet started, with an aggregate committed spend of about $895.4 billion, "substantially all" of it for compute and infrastructure. We read the filing itself. Its breakdown:

Two things stand out. First, the near-term bill is large against what the business throws off today: $69.8 billion due in the next year is about 10.6 times the $6.57 billion of operating cash flow produced in the first nine months of 2026. The filing itself says the ability to meet these obligations "depends on our ability to generate significant revenue growth." Second, roughly half of the total, $447.5 billion, lands before the end of 2030, with substantially all the rest between 2031 and 2045. That is a long-dated promise to suppliers that does not shrink if sentiment sours.

A caution on the headline loss. The filing shows a nine-month net loss of about $104 billion, but the income statement attributes $94.3 billion to changes in the fair value of convertible notes and similar instruments, which move with the company's own valuation. The operating loss is $1.26 billion. Anthropic is a different company from OpenAI, and OpenAI's own numbers are not public; we are using the S-1 only as the one detailed public look at what an AI lab's infrastructure bill looks like.

Who this actually hits

• Suppliers with backlog tied to these commitments. Chip, server, power and neocloud companies are the other side of this ledger. Their revenue depends on the labs raising capital, which is exactly what Friar said will continue, and on communities allowing the buildings. The ballot results and Thursday's selloff hit both of those at once.
• Local contractors and utilities. Electricians, concrete and site crews in data center markets are the first to feel a project paused by a local vote or a zoning fight. Anthropic's own risk factors cite permitting delays and shortages of electricians and technicians as drivers of construction delay.
• Anyone watching the Anthropic offering. Roadshow timing and price talk are in our earlier story. Friar's "raise capital" line is a reminder that the new money has to come from somewhere, and public markets are the obvious door.

What to watch

An updated Anthropic price range and the October revenue figure it left blank, any OpenAI filing or funding announcement with an actual valuation, and whether more local governments follow Tuesday's votes with moratoriums. Stated plans are not completed projects: continued intent to spend, as Friar describes it, is not yet evidence that every site gets built.

Sources: CNBC; Investing.com; Anthropic, PBC amended Form S-1 (S-1/A) filed Nov. 2, 2026, via SEC EDGAR; Ballotpedia analysis as cited by CNBC; Nasdaq 100 chart from Yahoo Finance data. Figures from the filing are as stated by the company. This is market information, not investment advice.