OpenAI ranks fourth among top tech vendors that IT leaders plan to spend the most with, survey finds

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

OpenAI ranks fourth among top vendors that IT leaders are currently or planning to spend the most with next year, according to a newly released industry report.

Flexera, a software asset management company, released its 2025 IT Priorities Report based on a survey of 800 IT leaders from the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. The survey focused on how IT decision-makers will make priorities for the coming year.

Out of the top technology vendors, 37% of the surveyed IT leaders said that they currently or will spend the most with OpenAI next year. The AI research organization came in fourth behind Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services, and it tied with Oracle.

This was the first year that OpenAI debuted on the survey list as an option. Survey participants could also pick multiple options.

The report said that OpenAI has taken a top four spot because of its ability to work with enterprises and allow employees to build custom AI solutions, which has given the company “a competitive edge in the AI consulting space.”

The survey also found that 42% of IT leaders said integrating AI would make the biggest difference to their organizations, compared to 26% for reducing security risks and 25% for reducing IT costs.

OpenAI has been licensing its ChatGPT enterprise options to Microsoft and the federal government. Microsoft has also made aggressive efforts to integrate AI into its product offerings, such as Microsoft Copilot, many of which are still powered by OpenAI’s GPT models.

OpenAI was recently valued at $157 billion after raising $6.6 billion of capital from firms such as Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Tiger Global, SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Initially founded as a nonprofit research organization focusing on safe AI, the company has been discussing how to transform into a for-profit model over the next two years to appease its investors.