In 2025, OpenAI has battled the perception that it was ceding ground in the AI race to Chinese rivals like DeepSeek, all while the company has tried to shore up its relationship with Washington, pursued ambitious data center projects, and laid the groundwork for one of the largest funding rounds in history. Most recently though, headlines around OpenAI have focused on its competition gaining ground, with CEO Sam Altman’s “code red” internal memo shifting c