OpenAI aims for $40 billion funding round to boost valuation to $340 billion
OpenAI is reportedly seeking to raise as much as $40 billion in a massive funding round aimed at boosting its valuation to $340 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports the SoftBank Group Corp. is leading the investment, which could see the Japanese conglomerate invest between $15 billion and $25 billion.
SoftBank was a major backer of OpenAI’s $6.6 billion funding round just three months ago, which valued the company at $157 billion.
This time around, the funding is based on OpenAI’s anticipated growth. The company is projected to generate revenues of around $3.7 billion for the year and has set itself a target of reaching $100 billion by 2029. It is currently unprofitable.
The cash will also go towards OpenAI’s Project Stargate, a $500 billion plan to build AI data centres across the United States. OpenAI and SoftBank have each committed about $19 billion to that initiative.
However, as competition heats up, particularly from DeepSeek, a Chinese lab that has released a competitive large language model, OpenAI feels the need to push on and innovate.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has spoken about the need to adapt in this new era of AI and his company’s response to the emergence of viable competitors. He also spoke optimistically about the company’s future, especially in relation to its partnership with Microsoft.
On X, Altman wrote: “The next phase of the MSFT x OAI partnership is gonna be much stronger than anyone is ready for!!”
If the funding round is successful, it would see OpenAI become one of the most valuable companies on the planet, ahead of the likes of ByteDance and SpaceX.
For OpenAI, the stakes couldn’t be higher. It needs to find a way to become profitable while ensuring it doesn’t lose its market dominance and can continue to operate sustainably.
The potential investment from SoftBank shows there’s still plenty of investor confidence in the company. If it goes ahead, it could give OpenAI a serious boost in its battle against the clock to stay ahead of the pack.
