OpenAI cuts valuation target amid AI investment cooldown and tech sell-off - CHOSUNBIZ

The Financial Times (FT) reported on October 22 that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has lowered its target value from $1.4 trillion (about 1,850 trillion South Korean won) to $1.25 trillion (1,652 trillion won). The newspaper got this information from people who know about the situation.

OpenAI lowered its target value as investors became more worried about whether the large amounts of money being spent on artificial intelligence (AI) equipment and systems could continue. At the same time, shares in U.S. technology companies, including the biggest tech companies known as Big Tech, fell sharply across the market.

According to the report, OpenAI is close to finishing a deal to raise money from investors that would value the company at $1.25 trillion. OpenAI is reportedly trying to raise $30 billion (about 39 trillion won) in this round of funding before its planned initial public offering (IPO) next year. An IPO is when a company first offers its shares for sale to the public.

If OpenAI's value is set at $1.25 trillion in this funding round, that would be 50% higher than its previous value of $852 billion. However, it would still be lower than the $1.4 trillion value the company first suggested to investors.

Analysts said the lower target value appears to be connected to growing worries about AI infrastructure investments. Much of the money used for these investments is borrowed, and investors are becoming more concerned about that.

Several people who know about the fundraising process, which is being led by investment bank Morgan Stanley, told the Financial Times that investors were less interested than before. One person said investors were not rushing to take part. The person explained that, in the past, investors became extremely excited whenever they had a chance to put money into OpenAI. This time, however, the response has been much weaker than expected.

Some investors who put large amounts of money into earlier funding rounds were reportedly feeling tired of making so many investments. This feeling has been described as investment fatigue, or "indigestion," meaning investors may feel they have already invested too much money.

OpenAI raised $40 billion in March 2025. In March 2026, it raised a record $122 billion. Its competitor Anthropic also received about $100 billion in investment during 2026.