The New York Times reported Thursday evening that OpenAI is considering delaying its highly anticipated initial public offering until 2027, citing three people familiar with the company's internal deliberations. The development sent immediate ripples across global equity markets: SoftBank Group, OpenAI's most financially exposed listed backer, plunged more than 13% in Tokyo, its steepest single-day decline since August 2024, wiping out approximately 5.6 trillion yen in market capitalization in a single session.

According to the Times, OpenAI's advisers have presented management with two paths: proceed with a listing in the second half of 2026 at a lower valuation, or wait until 2027 to pursue a debut at up to $1 trillion. Chief Executive Sam Altman is reportedly unwilling to accept anything below $1 trillion, a figure that stands materially above OpenAI's most recent private valuation of approximately $730 billion. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has reportedly advocated patience, citing the company's continued heavy infrastructure spending and the additional disclosure obligations that accompany a public listing. OpenAI's audited financials, disclosed earlier this year, revealed a net loss of $38.5 billion in 2025 driven by $34 billion in computing and infrastructure expenditures.

The report landed in an already-deteriorating environment for high-multiple technology stocks. Apple's Mac and iPad price hikes on Thursday triggered a 6.1% selloff in that stock; Thursday's PCE inflation print at 4.1% year-over-year reinforced Federal Reserve rate-hike expectations; and quarter-end rebalancing flows have disproportionately hit the AI-adjacent names that dominated the first half of 2026. SpaceX's post-IPO experience also loomed over the decision: SpaceX debuted in June at a $1.77 trillion valuation and reached $202 per share, then fell to an intraday low near $147 within three sessions — a trajectory that OpenAI's bankers have reportedly invoked as a cautionary argument for waiting.

The global market fallout was sharp and broad. South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 8% intraday, activating a mandatory 20-minute trading halt, with index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — both of which maintain supply and development ties to OpenAI — shedding more than 9% each. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell more than 4% as SoftBank's large index weighting amplified the move. A broad gauge of Asian equities declined more than 3%, its worst session in weeks. Shares of Apple's Asian supply chain partners retreated as the two negative catalysts compounded each other.

In U.S. premarket trading, Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.9% to approximately 29,460 points, S&P 500 futures slid 0.3% to 7,331 points, while Dow futures edged 0.1% higher — a pattern consistent with the week's rotation from high-multiple technology into industrials, healthcare, and financials. Chip stocks bore a disproportionate burden: ON Semiconductor fell as much as 13.6%, Micron gave back 4.7% after Thursday's 17% post-earnings surge, and AMD and Intel each declined roughly 3%.

SoftBank's investment in OpenAI is on track to total approximately $65 billion by October 2026, making the Japanese conglomerate's share price a direct proxy for OpenAI's anticipated public-market monetization. Masayoshi Son has repeatedly positioned the stake as central to SoftBank's identity as an AI holding company; a 2027 IPO extends the time horizon for realizing that thesis without necessarily diminishing its ultimate value, though the market is clearly pricing the delay as a negative near term.

The broader implication of the OpenAI report is a high-profile challenge to the thesis that AI infrastructure spending will translate on a predictable timeline into investable public-market returns. With Anthropic also widely expected to pursue a listing, any recalibration in the AI IPO pipeline now carries sector-wide implications that extend well beyond any single company's listing decision.