OpenAI Banks $11bn First Tranche at $1.25tn as Fundraising Target Is Cut

OpenAI has banked $11bn in the opening tranche of a new funding round at a valuation of $1.25tn, Bloomberg reported on Friday 6 November, a smaller and slower cheque than the company had set out to raise. The money forms part of a round that could yet reach $20bn and gives the ChatGPT developer room to keep financing its computing build-out while its listing plans stay on hold. The deal sits at the centre of the AI industry's funding and compute story, where valuations, infrastructure commitments and public-market appetite now move together.

OpenAI had originally sought more than $30bn at a valuation of about $1.4tn, according to AI Times and Handelsblatt. It lowered both figures as AI-related shares sold off and investors grew uneasy about the cost of data-centre and other infrastructure spending. The company raised $122bn in March at a valuation of $852bn, so the new mark is higher than that earlier round but short of the $1.4tn it had targeted. SiliconANGLE reports that up to $9bn more is expected in the coming weeks.

The first tranche drew Coatue Management and T. Rowe Price, AI Times reported, while the wider round is said to include SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and investors from the UAE. The chill is not confined to OpenAI. Anthropic filed its S-1 to go public last week, The Verge reports; SiliconANGLE puts its hoped-for valuation at $1.5tn, whereas AI Times says investors are marking it nearer $1.2tn to $1.3tn, and TechCrunch reports some potential buyers see as little as $1.1tn, against roughly $2tn expected a month earlier.

Sam Altman has said OpenAI is prioritising safety rather than going “guns blazing” toward an IPO, adding: “I think it’s also kind of bad for the world if OpenAI waits too long to go public.” The Verge notes that tech stocks dropped and that the midterm results showed public opinion turning against AI companies and data-centre projects. SiliconANGLE reports a listing planned for 2027 and more than $665bn in chip and data-centre commitments; Anthropic’s IPO roadmap, expected to begin next week, is the next milestone to watch.