Exploding valuations and mountains of debt co-exist with a US government shutdown. How long can we stay on the hype-cycle rollercoaster?

Analysis In an employee share sell-off this week, OpenAI achieved a nominal value of $500 billion. In terms of valuation, the posterchild of GenAI — which is yet to make a profit — left in its dust companies like Toyota, the world's largest automaker.

Non-believers might be interested in whether this combination of escalating asset value and burgeoning debt is anything to worry about...

To put this in perspective, Toyota [PDF] sells around 10.8 million vehicles per year, accrues an operating income (profit before tax) of around $32 billion and has a market cap of a mere $250 billion.

If this continues, it's not hard to imagine OpenAI might be worth double Toyota's value. Welcome to the world of the AI boom, where gravity-defying feats are possible so long as enough people believe they are.

There are certainly enough believers out there. GPU rental business CoreWeave told US ...