“OpenAI’s reported $340 billion valuation, despite significant losses, highlights how tech valuations can sometimes be illusory, driven more by perceived future potential than fundamental financial performance.”
-Rose Law Group Director of Corporate Transactions, Shruti Gurudanti
By CNBC
OpenAI is in talks to raise up to $40 billion in a funding round that would lift the artificial intelligence company’s valuation to as high as $340 billion, CNBC has confirmed.
Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank would lead the round, contributing between $15 billion and 25 billion, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be named because the talks are ongoing. SoftBank would surpass Microsoft as OpenAI’s top backer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the talks.
Part of the funding may be used for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle that was introduced by President Donald Trump last week, the sources said. The plan calls for billions of dollars to be invested in U.S. AI infrastructure.
OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion by private investors. In late 2022, the company launched its ChatGPT chatbot and kicked off the boom in generative AI. OpenAI closed its latest $6.6 billion round in October, gearing up to aggressively compete with Elon Musk’s xAI, as well as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Anthropic.
