OpenAI in Talks for Funding Round Valuing It at Over $100 Billion

OpenAI is in talks to raise a new funding round that would value the company at more than $100 billion. Thrive Capital would lead the deal, with Microsoft and Nvidia also participating—a combination that underscores how heavily the AI-model business depends on both capital and computing power.

That figure does not necessarily represent the amount of money that would enter OpenAI’s coffers. A valuation is the price investors agree to pay for a stake in a company; the round’s final size and terms are still being negotiated. But the threshold would place OpenAI among the most valuable private companies in the technology sector.

From an $86 Billion Valuation to a New League

OpenAI had already reached a valuation of close to $86 billion in early 2024, when company employees sold existing shares to investors. That transaction was not a conventional funding round: the money went to the shareholders selling their stock, rather than necessarily funding new company projects.

The current negotiations carry a different significance. The company needs resources to train increasingly expensive models, operate ChatGPT at scale and compete with Google, Anthropic, Meta and Chinese companies that are also investing billions of dollars in infrastructure.

Training a large language model requires vast clusters of specialized chips, data centers, electricity and research teams. The costs do not end with training: every query sent to an advanced model uses server capacity. As ChatGPT gains users and OpenAI expands its voice and image capabilities while exploring video generation with Sora, that operating bill is growing as well.

Microsoft Retains a Central Role

Microsoft is OpenAI’s most important commercial and technology partner. The Redmond-based company has committed around $13 billion to the organization and provides infrastructure through Azure. In return, it has integrated OpenAI’s models into products such as Copilot, Bing and its enterprise services.

Microsoft’s possible participation in the new round would reinforce a relationship that benefits both sides, while also concentrating power. OpenAI gains access to the infrastructure it needs to compete at the frontier of AI models; Microsoft ties much of its generative-AI strategy to the most prominent provider in the market.

Nvidia represents the other decisive element in the equation. Its graphics processors have become the most sought-after component for training and running AI systems. If the chipmaker invests, it would align even more closely the interests of the company developing the models and the one selling much of the hardware used to build them.

The Valuation Measures Expectations, Not Just ChatGPT

Investors’ interest is not explained by ChatGPT alone, although its launch in November 2022 turned generative AI into a mass-market consumer product. OpenAI has since expanded its lineup with GPT-4o, a model capable of working with text, voice and images, and in July introduced SearchGPT, a prototype designed to answer queries using information from the web.

The company has also shown Sora, its text-to-video generation system. None of these products, on its own, guarantees a sustainable business at the scale implied by a valuation above $100 billion. Together, however, they illustrate OpenAI’s ambition: to become a provider of a foundational layer of artificial intelligence for consumers, developers and large enterprises.

That ambition carries risks. Competition is driving prices down, Meta’s open models are putting pressure on the lower end of the market, and companies are still learning which AI applications generate real revenue. Scrutiny of safety, copyright and market concentration is also increasing in step with investment.

If the round closes on the terms currently under discussion, it would give OpenAI room to sustain the technical race. It would also raise the bar: at a valuation of this magnitude, the market will no longer expect merely flashy products, but a credible path to turning its technological lead into a lasting business.