TMTPOST -- OpenAI is said to mull another several billions of dollar of funding round to ramp up artificial intelligence (AI) development and support infrastructure in the sector.
Credit：Freepik
OpenAI is in talks to raise up to $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp., which is discussing to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion, The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter on Thursday. The reported talks are in an early stage and remained fluid. The round would value OpenAI up to $340 billion while the source said newer negotiations cut the valuation to as high as $300 billion, per the report.
The $300 billion was said to be a post-money valuation, namely, the value that includes the cash OpenAI raises in the round. OpenAI anticipates to use part of the funding for its money-losing business operations, and part of the cash would be used to help the ChatGPT-maker to fulfill its around $18 billion commitment to Stargate, a joint venture founded by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.
CNBC later Thursday confirmed OpenAI is in discussion about up to $40 billion funding round at a valuation as much as $340 billion. The news media outlet also learned SoftBank, as the lead investor, will contribute between $15 billion and $25 billion.
If OpenAI successfully closes the reported new round, its valuation could more than double that in last October, when the company announced it had raised $6.6 billion in funding at $157 billion. That round made OpenAI one of the top three most valued startups across the world, along with SpaceX and ByteDance. The valuation is significantly higher than the $860 billion valuation from the company’s tender offer in February 2024.
SoftBank was reported to pour $500 million into that funding round, led by Thrive Capital, a New York-based venture capital firm founded by Josh Kushner, who is close with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The firm put in $1.3 billion, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s largest backer, invest about $750 million, on top of the $13 billion it had already invested in the startup, according to the report.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday Stargate, co-founded by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, plans to input a total of up to $500 million with initial investment of $100 billion in AI projects, and is expected to create “over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”
“We’re starting off with tremendous investment coming into our country at levels that nobody’s really ever seen before,” Trump said in in a White House briefing. He added Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI,” including data centers.
Stargate intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States, backed by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based tech investment firm MGX as initial equity funders, OpenAI said in a statement.
“This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world,” the ChatGPT-developer said.”This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with the former having financial responsibility and the later having operational responsibility, and Son will be the venture’s chairman, according to the statement. It said Arm Holdings Plc., Microsoft Coporation, Nvidia Corporation, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners.
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