OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced Monday that it’s securing up to $40 billion in new funding, potentially valuing the company higher than McDonald’s or Chevron.
SoftBank Group is leading this new fundraising round for the AI powerhouse. The Japanese investment group plans to invest $10 billion in mid-April and an additional $30 billion in December, dependent on OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit model by year’s end.
According to Reuters, Microsoft, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital, and Thrive Capital are among the “co-investors” contributing to the initial $10 billion investment. If OpenAI doesn’t become a for-profit entity, SoftBank’s total investment will cap at $20 billion.
OpenAI estimates the agreement puts its “post-money” valuation at $300 billion. Quartz reports that this valuation surpasses fast-food giant McDonald’s (over $223 billion) and energy firm Chevron (over $294 billion based on market capitalization as of Tuesday).
OpenAI says the $40 billion will help it “push the frontiers of AI research even further, scale our compute infrastructure, and deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week.” The company added that SoftBank’s backing “will help us continue building AI systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education, enhance human creativity, and pave the way toward AGI that benefits all of humanity.”
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SoftBank cites its alignment with the recently announced “Stargate Project” as the reason for its “follow-on investments” in OpenAI. This investment aims to “both further support OpenAI’s growth and capture the benefits of that growth in SBG’s NAV [net asset value].”
OpenAI is partnering with SoftBank and Oracle to create a data center network through the $500 billion Stargate project to power AI workloads in the U.S. Other firms involved in Stargate include Microsoft, Nvidia, MGX, and Arm.
SoftBank has invested $2.2 billion into OpenAI since the fall through its Vision 2 fund. Their stated “mission” behind this is “to realize Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) for the advancement of humanity.”
