OpenAI is in early discussions to raise up to $40 billion in funding that would value the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, including the new investment. The valuation would nearly double the $157 billion the company commanded in October.
SoftBank Group (TYO: 9984) plans to lead the round with a potential investment of $15-25 billion, with the Japanese company helping recruit additional investors to complete the funding, according to a person familiar with the matter in an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal.
The source noted that the discussions are still ongoing and could still fall through.
The proposed funding would mark Silicon Valley’s largest-ever fundraising, according to PitchBook data, and make OpenAI the second most valuable startup globally, behind only SpaceX.
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The fundraising push comes as Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked markets with AI models it claims to have developed at a fraction of US competitors’ costs. DeepSeek’s success has led investors to question the heavy spending by OpenAI and other American AI firms.
The potential investment would help finance OpenAI’s $18 billion commitment to Stargate, a joint venture with SoftBank and others to build US data centers. The funds would also support ongoing operations at the AI company, which expected to lose about $5 billion last year on $3.7 billion in revenue, with projected revenue growth to $11.6 billion this year.
If the investment pushes through, it would be SoftBank’s third major commitment to OpenAI in recent months, following its $500 million October investment and subsequent $1.5 billion employee share purchase offer.
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