Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI is in early discussions for a funding round that could value it at a whopping $340 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, which would more than double its valuation amid competitive threats from up-and-coming Chinese AI firm DeepSeek.
OpenAI is currently valued at $157 billion. (Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI is in the early stages of raising up to $40 billion in a new funding round, the Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter who noted discussions are still in flux and could fall through.
- The funding round would value OpenAI at $340 billion, more than doubling its latest valuation of $157 billion, which was secured after the company raised $6.6 billion in October.
- The Journal previously reported that Japanese investment firm SoftBank would spearhead the funding round and contribute somewhere between $15 billion and $25 billion.
- OpenAI did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
How Does Openai’s Valuation Compare To Its Competitors?
OpenAI was valued at $157 billion as of October while the Elon Musk-owned xAI secured a roughly $50 billion valuation last fall. Amazon-backed AI startup Anthropic was valued at $18 billion and is reportedly in talks for a fundraise that would raise its valuation to $60 billion.
DeepSeek is worth at least $1 billion, according to analysts who spoke to Forbes, though it could be worth far more despite the fact it generates little revenue as of today. Although they are not explicitly AI companies, Microsoft and Meta earmarked $80 billion and $65 billion, respectively, for AI in their current fiscal years, Reuters reported.
Key Background
OpenAI has the highest valuation among all U.S. AI startups and more than quadrupled its value from 2023 to 2024. The nonprofit company generated $300 million in monthly revenue in August, according to The New York Times, which noted OpenAI expected $3.7 billion in annual sales for 2024. OpenAI is also at the forefront of Project Stargate, a Trump-backed AI infrastructure initiative also involving Oracle and Nvidia.
The project seeks to construct several AI data centers across the country and establish hundreds of thousands of American jobs. However, the large bursts of money and funding behind OpenAI and other AI startups were thrown into question this week as DeepSeek surged in popularity and claimed it developed one of its AI models at a much cheaper cost than American startups.
The Chinese startup claimed it spent $5.6 million on graphics processing units to train a model, though experts like Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon have remained skeptical of the figure, saying it disregards “substantial” additional costs that put toward the model’s development.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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