OpenAI has closed the first part of a new funding round worth about $11 billion, valuing the artificial intelligence company at $1.25 trillion, according to reports. The money has been wired, and the rest of the round is expected to follow in the coming weeks.
The round is now expected to total about $20 billion, well below the $30 billion the company was reported to be seeking in September at a $1.4 trillion valuation. The valuation held at $1.25 trillion even as the target fell, a sign investors still prize the business while pricing its huge spending plans more carefully.
The first close is reported to include SoftBank and MGX among the backers, though the full investor list has not been disclosed. The company declined to comment on the funding, according to reports.
The new money arrives as OpenAI keeps pouring cash into the computing power it needs. Finance chief Sarah Friar said in a television interview this week that the company would keep investing in data centres and raising capital. The funding lands as Broadcom seeks more than $50 billion to finance OpenAI custom chips, a sign of how costly the buildout has become.
A smaller round at a higher price
The valuation is about 47 percent above the $852 billion figure from a March round, according to reports, even though the new round is a third smaller than planned. The gap shows how far the company’s worth has climbed in eight months, and how much more cautious investors have become about data centre spending.
The same caution is visible at rival Anthropic, where buyers in its coming listing are reported to be eyeing far less than the $2 trillion talked about a month ago. Anthropic files for public listing as revenue jumps to $16.3 billion, and the two listings will test how much investors still trust the AI boom.
What the money is for
OpenAI has not said what the new cash will fund, but the pattern is clear. Data centres sit at the centre of the bill, and the midterm results and voter unease about them have added to the uncertainty, according to reports. The company’s chief executive has said it is holding off a listing until it can make more confident claims about its models’ safety, and reports point to a listing next year, which would give the public a first look at the numbers behind the valuation.
For now, the $11 billion first close sets the price. The company is worth far more than in March, the round is smaller than planned, and the rest of the money is still to come. How fast it arrives will say a lot about whether investors see the AI buildout as a race worth funding, or a bill starting to come due.
