OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is in discussions to raise close to $40 billion in fresh funding—almost doubling its valuation to as high as $340 billion, according to reports.
The San Francisco-based company was last valued at $157 billion in October, when it secured $6.6 billion of investment. Microsoft led a previous round of financing totalling $10 billion, integrating OpenAI’s technology into its suite of Office products and significantly boosting the AI startup’s profile.
Under discussions first reported by The Wall Street Journal, SoftBank is poised to lead the new round with a direct investment of between $15 billion and $25 billion. A portion of the funds would fuel OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate—a joint venture between Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank—which has earmarked up to $500 billion to help the United States maintain a competitive edge over China in the AI space. SoftBank’s additional stake would come on top of the $15 billion it has already pledged to Stargate.
Founded in 2015 as a not-for-profit by Sam Altman, 39, Elon Musk, 53, and others, OpenAI pivoted in 2019 to a “capped-profit” model. Musk departed in 2018 due to potential conflicts with Tesla’s own AI ambitions. Under Altman, OpenAI has grown to become one of the world’s most valuable private companies and a central force in the race to commercialise AI tools powered by large language models.
However, competition is on the rise. This week, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek claimed to have developed R1, a rival chatbot to ChatGPT, at a fraction of the cost. “DeepSeek’s R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price,” Altman acknowledged on X (formerly Twitter).
On Wednesday, OpenAI said it was investigating whether DeepSeek had “inappropriately distilled our models”. It added: “We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the US government to protect the most capable models being built here.”
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on the reported new funding round.
