How OpenAI’s Next Product Launch Could Wipe 25% ($550 Billion) Off Google’s Market Cap

Right around the same time Sam Altman’s company announced a nearly $6.5 billion deal to buy Jony Ive’s mysterious AI device startup (marking the largest acquisition in OpenAI’s short but chaos-filled history) it turns out they had a much bigger card up their sleeve.

Because while everyone was busy debating whether the Altman–Ive bromance would lead to the iPhone of AI (or another $3,000 office collectible), OpenAI was quietly preparing to come for Google Chrome’s entire lunch money. It’s true. A full-blown, AI-powered web browser is coming. Clearly, Sam “I don’t care about money” has far bigger aspirations than competing with Chrome… he wants to yeet it into retirement.

This feels like the moment OpenAI officially stopped pretending to be the cute little startup that just wanted to help you write emails. They’re now gunning for the gateway to the internet itself… a throne Chrome has guarded for over a decade. And considering Chrome controls over two-thirds of the global browser market, if OpenAI pulls this off… Sundar’s gonna need a hug (and possibly another job).

(Source: Reuters)

Here’s what we know: the new browser is reportedly based on Chromium, the same underlying tech used by Chrome and Edge, so it’ll support existing extensions and look familiar. But the real difference is the brains behind the scenes… OpenAI is deeply integrating ChatGPT and Operator (their autonomous web agent launched earlier this year), allowing users to interact with the internet like a college-educated assistant.

In plain English, you won’t be “Googling” things anymore. You’ll say “find me the best tacos nearby, book a table for 4, and make sure they have vegetarian options,” and your browser will go full Pam Beasley mode… checking Yelp reviews, filling out reservation forms, maybe even reading the menu aloud if you ask nicely.

But let’s talk about the real play here… your data. Chrome might not charge you a dime, but make no mistake… it’s one of the most profitable “free” products in history. Every click, search, scroll, and weird late-night rabbit hole you go down? Google scoops it up and feeds it straight into its $238 billion ad machine. That data is the oil, and Chrome is the drill.

Now picture what happens if OpenAI owns the browser. They wouldn’t only know what you search… they’d know how you search. How long you hovered. Where your cursor danced. What you almost clicked but didn’t. What tabs you left open for three days before finally closing. Yeah, it’s a little creepy. But it’s also stupidly valuable. And that’s the power move: not just building a smarter browser… but owning the entire behavioral blueprint of how people use the web.

And get this: Barclays estimates Chrome accounts for up to 25% of Google’s $2.2 trillion market cap… even though it technically doesn’t make money. That’s $550 billion in strategic value, all because Chrome controls the flow of data. So while launching a browser might seem like just another feature drop… it’s actually a full-blown power grab.

Which is what makes this even more aggressive than the Jony Ive deal. That was a sexy, headline-grabbing swing at hardware. But this is a real step to world domination. Between this browser and ChatGPT, the average American might soon spend more time on OpenAI’s tools than the average 20-year-old spends on Instagram. (And that’s saying something.)

And don’t think Google isn’t worried. This is the second time in a year OpenAI has poked the bear. First, they lapped Bard with GPT-4. Now, they’re trying to take over how people access Bard in the first place. If successful, it would undercut Google’s main interface and pull the ad rug right out from under them.

To be fair, OpenAI isn’t the only one gunning for Chrome. Brave has AI features. The Browser Company has Arc. Perplexity is coming in hot. But none of them have OpenAI’s brand power, half-a-billion weekly users, or ChatGPT baked into every pixel. The new browser is reportedly launching “in the coming weeks.” Which (in OpenAI time) could mean next Thursday or October 2026. But whenever it hits, it’s shaping up to be Chrome’s first real existential threat.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Google as mentioned in the article.