OpenAI in Talks for Huge Investment Round Valuing It Up to $340 Billion
SoftBank would lead $40 billion round for the ChatGPT maker, some of which would go to Stargate AI infrastructure venture
OpenAI is in early talks to raise up to $40 billion in a funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $340 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank would lead the round and is in discussions to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The Japanese company is helping to assemble investors for the rest of the round, one of the people said.
OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion in October, when it raised $6.6 billion. A near-doubling of its value in just a few months would be extraordinary even by the standards of Silicon Valley’s current AI boom.
The funding will be used in part to help OpenAI fulfill its roughly $18 billion commitment to Stargate, a joint venture with SoftBank and others to finance the construction of new data centers in the U.S. powering OpenAI’s technology across the country. The startup also expects to use the cash to fund its money-losing business operations.