OpenAI is pursuing another massive private funding round of up to $30bn, potentially pushing its valuation to $1.25tn as the artificial intelligence company weighs its next move ahead of a planned initial public offering.
According to CNBC, the ChatGPT developer is negotiating the proposed investment with Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates. The deal could also include an arrangement to secure additional computing capacity from the Gulf nation, linking the fundraising effort to OpenAI’s growing demand for the infrastructure needed to develop and run its AI models.
The reported plan follows a Bloomberg report a month earlier that said OpenAI was seeking $30bn at a $1.4tn valuation. The figures differ, and negotiations remain ongoing, meaning the final fundraising amount and valuation could change. OpenAI declined to comment on the latest report.
The funding push highlights a major challenge facing OpenAI: sustaining its enormous appetite for capital while preparing to enter public markets. Beyond developing AI models, the company must secure sufficient computing power, expand its infrastructure and convince investors that its long-term commercial prospects justify its rising valuation.
If OpenAI secures the proposed funding at a pre-money valuation of $1.25tn, it would set a new benchmark for private-company valuations. However, such a figure would also increase the pressure on the company to demonstrate that its business can support expectations on that scale when it eventually goes public.
OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO in June, following a March funding round that valued the company at $852bn post-money. The latest reported proposal would represent a substantial increase from that valuation, although the figures are not directly comparable because one is pre-money and the other post-money.
The distinction matters because a pre-money valuation measures a company’s worth before new investment, while a post-money valuation includes the fresh capital raised. The final terms would therefore determine how much new funding investors contribute and what ownership stake they receive.
The potential deal also carries implications for the wider AI industry, where leading developers are competing for investors, computing resources and commercial customers. A higher valuation for OpenAI could intensify scrutiny of rival companies preparing to test public-market demand for their shares.
Anthropic, another major AI developer, is also preparing for a possible IPO. CNBC reported that the company was seeking a public-market valuation of between $1.5tn and $2tn. Anthropic raised $65bn at a $965bn valuation in May, in a round that many observers viewed as potentially its final major private financing before going public. Like OpenAI, it confidentially filed IPO paperwork in June.
For investors, the emerging contest is no longer simply about which AI company develops the most capable models; it is increasingly about which business can turn massive spending on computing infrastructure into sustainable revenue. OpenAI’s reported fundraising plans could strengthen its ability to compete, but they also raise the stakes for its eventual IPO, when public investors will have to assess whether its growth prospects justify a trillion-dollar valuation.
