OpenAI is in early talks to raise up to $40 billion in a massive funding round led by SoftBank that would value the artificial intelligence firm at $340 billion, according to a report.
The funding round would nearly double the ChatGPT maker’s value in just a few months – a huge feat after raising $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation in October, according to The Wall Street Journal.
SoftBank would invest between $15 billion to $25 billion into OpenAI, pushing out Microsoft as the firm’s largest backer, according to the report.
The Japanese tech firm would also help find investors for the rest of the funding round, though it could still fall apart, the report said.
Some of the funding would be used to help cover OpenAI’s $18 billion commitment to the recently announced Stargate project.
President Donald Trump last week unveiled the $500 billion AI infrastructure project, which will fund huge data centers in Texas.
OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle jointly launched the venture.
SoftBank and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Currently, Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest investor, committing nearly $14 billion to date.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has reportedly been looking to chip away at his company’s reliance on Microsoft by developing its own AI chips and partnering with other tech giants like Oracle.
Under the Stargate agreement, Microsoft also agreed to relinquish its position as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud service provider.
SoftBank could end up spending more than $40 billion on its partnership with OpenAI, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
“The talks are ongoing and the amount that SoftBank could invest in primary equity into OpenAI is a moving target,” one person familiar with the matter told the FT.
In November, OpenAI allowed its employees to sell about $1.5 billion worth of shares in a tender offer to SoftBank, according to a CNBC report.
Masayoshi Son, who founded the Japanese tech firm in 1981, was reportedly persistent in asking for a larger stake in the startup, a source then told CNBC.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is in the process of transitioning to a for-profit structure, a move that has been met with legal challenges from Tesla founder Elon Musk – who cut ties with the firm in 2018 after co-founding it with Altman and others.
Musk, a close Trump ally who joined him at rallies and donated millions to his campaign efforts, has also criticized the Stargate project and questioned its legitimacy.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on his social platform X last week, after the announcement. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
The nonprofit is removing some of its restrictions as it aims to operate more like a startup, which it has said will require more capital.
“The hundreds of billions of dollars that major companies are now investing into AI development show what it will really take for OpenAI to continue pursuing the mission,” OpenAI’s board said in a blog post last month.
If Son spends $40 billion or more on his investment into OpenAI, it would be one of his largest ever – beating SoftBank’s $16 billion deal with WeWork, the failed office space company.
