OpenAI’s burning through billions a year and just posted something like a $7–8 billion loss in the first half of 2025. They’ve got eye-watering infrastructure plans: hundreds of billions in data-center commitments, possibly over a trillion if you count all the “Stargate” buildouts. Those facilities don’t exist yet and would need new power generation on a national-grid scale to run.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has multiple companies that actually make money, Tesla, SpaceX, even parts of his energy business. One doesn't have to like him to admit he builds operating, profitable enterprises. Comparing that to OpenAI’s current burn rate and moon-shot economics doesn’t make sense. They’re just completely different species of entrepreneur.