OpenAI seeks $30B funding round at $1.25T valuation ahead of potential IPO

OpenAI is close to raising up to $30 billion in a new funding round, which would value the artificial intelligence company at $1.25 trillion, according to CNBC. The company is preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO), which means selling its shares to the public for the first time.

Investors from the United Arab Emirates and investment firm Coatue are leading the funding round, according to people familiar with the talks. The reported $1.25 trillion valuation does not include the new money. With the new funding, OpenAI's total valuation could reach as much as $1.28 trillion.

The company sees this funding as a step toward a possible IPO. OpenAI told investors on Thursday that it wants to get signatures by the end of next week. However, the final amount of money it will raise has not yet been decided.

Talks about the funding began in September, after investors approached OpenAI with offers to provide more money.

At the same time, OpenAI is reportedly discussing a business deal to get more computing power from the United Arab Emirates. The company previously told investors that it expects to spend about $600 billion on computing infrastructure by 2030.

OpenAI aims to go public in 2027

The funding talks come after OpenAI privately filed paperwork for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told employees in August that the company expects to go public in 2027. But CEO Sam Altman urged caution the following month, saying that current market conditions did not make it a good time for an immediate IPO.

OpenAI is considering going public as it faces growing competition from Anthropic, which is also preparing to sell shares to the public.

Anthropic privately filed its IPO prospectus in June and has since met with potential investors. According to Reuters, the company is reportedly seeking a valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.

In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion. This shows how much money investors are putting into leading AI companies.

Both companies are working toward public listings while planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on computing infrastructure. Growing demand for advanced AI models is driving investment in data centers and cloud computing capacity.