Seeking to raise over 100 billion, OpenAI’s valuation is expected to approach 3 trillion.

(San Francisco, Feb 3)
U.S. media reports say OpenAI is in talks with major tech firms and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds about a new funding round that could raise as much as US$100 billion, potentially valuing the company at US$750 billion or more.

According to The New York Times, the discussions are ongoing and no final structure has been confirmed. The US$100 billion figure is described as only one possible scenario. Companies reportedly involved in conversations include Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, and SoftBank Group.

OpenAI is said to be valued at around US$500 billion, placing it among the most highly valued private companies globally, alongside SpaceX and ByteDance. The company is also reportedly exploring the possibility of launching an IPO as early as this year.

Despite rising revenue, OpenAI is still operating at a loss, largely due to the massive costs of computing power required to build and deploy AI systems. Revenue is generated through subscriptions to products such as ChatGPT, with last year’s revenue reported at US$13 billion and forecasts pointing to strong growth. However, the company is also expected to spend about US$115 billion from 2025 to 2029—only part of a much larger long-term compute commitment.

As competition intensifies, the pressure to grow revenue has increased. After leading the field for more than two years following ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, OpenAI now faces close rivals such as Anthropic and Google, as well as other players in the U.S. and China. Reports add that OpenAI has started introducing ads in the free version of ChatGPT, which is said to have more than 800 million users. ChatGPT remains a key revenue driver, with about 6% of users paying US$20 per month for higher-tier access, while OpenAI continues expanding enterprise offerings in areas like healthcare and finance.