OpenAI trims valuation target to $1.25T as investors wait for Anthropic’s IPO

• OpenAI now wants investors to value the company at $1.25 trillion before new funding, down from its earlier target of $1.4 trillion.
• The company behind ChatGPT hopes to raise up to $30 billion. Investors have until October 30 to decide whether to put in money.
• According to the Financial Times, some investors would rather wait until Anthropic starts selling its shares on the stock market.

OpenAI is asking investors to accept a lower company value than it first proposed. The company behind ChatGPT is close to raising up to $30 billion in new funding. It now wants to be valued at $1.25 trillion before that money is added, instead of the $1.4 trillion it suggested earlier this month, the Financial Times reported. If OpenAI raises the full $30 billion, its total value after the investment would be about $1.28 trillion.

Morgan Stanley and Dragoneer had shown the earlier, higher value to wealthy private clients, according to documents seen by the Financial Times. Investment firm Coatue and investment funds from the United Arab Emirates are reportedly discussing taking the lead in the funding round. OpenAI might raise less than $30 billion if not enough investors want to take part. OpenAI declined to comment.

Investors slow down after a record amount of funding

OpenAI was founded in 2015 and is led by Sam Altman. It raised $40 billion in March 2025. In March 2026, it raised a record $122 billion, giving the company a total value of $852 billion after the investment. It later completed a $7 billion deal that allowed existing shareholders to sell shares, using the same $852 billion company value. The new target of $1.25 trillion is about 47% higher than that earlier value. But investors seem less eager to put in money than they were in March.

Some investors have already put so much money into earlier funding rounds that they are finding it hard to invest more. Sources speaking to the Financial Times called this feeling “indigestion.” Benzinga described the reaction to the new funding round as “a bit of a thud,” meaning it was less exciting than expected. TFN previously reported that OpenAI was trying to secure $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation. It also reported that the company was talking with investment funds from the UAE and BlackRock about investing at that fixed company value. That price has now been lowered.

Anthropic becomes the company investors compare OpenAI with

A bigger reason investors are waiting is Anthropic, another AI company. In May 2026, Anthropic raised $65 billion, bringing its total value after the investment to $965 billion. Altimeter, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia led the investment. The funding included about $15 billion that large technology companies providing computing services had already promised to invest. This made Anthropic more valuable than OpenAI at the time. Anthropic was co-founded by Dario Amodei, his sister Daniela Amodei and others. Since then, the company has filed paperwork for an initial public offering, or IPO. This is when a company first offers its shares to the public on the stock market.

Harrison Rolfes, a senior research analyst who studies companies in later stages of growth at PitchBook, told TFN that OpenAI now has “a free option.” He meant that OpenAI can wait and see how large professional investors react to Anthropic's officially checked financial reports before deciding what price to set for its own shares. Investors seem to be thinking the same way. Jimmy Chang, chief investment officer at Rockefeller Global Family Office, which has investments linked to both companies, explained why this matters: “The market needs to see a successful IPO. These companies need funding.”

Many companies are competing in the AI industry. Anthropic raised $30 billion in a Series G funding round in February 2026, when it was valued at $380 billion. Series G is a later round of private investment. xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot, became part of SpaceX after the two companies merged in February 2026. At the same time, there have also been discussions about OpenAI selling its own shares on the stock market.

The high cost of computing power is another reason for the lower price

Investors are also thinking about what all this money will pay for. J.P. Morgan Global Research estimates that spending on equipment, buildings and other long-term resources for AI could reach $900 billion in 2026. It predicts that total spending could add up to $5.5 trillion by 2030. According to the Financial Times, the reported conditions of OpenAI's new funding deal include a right of first refusal for new computing power built by its partners in the UAE. This means OpenAI would get the first chance to use or buy that computing capacity before it is offered to others. That could help the company get access to powerful computing resources that are in short supply.

Lowering OpenAI's proposed value by $150 billion, or 10.7%, does not mean the company's value has collapsed. Its new target is still about 47% higher than the value used in its last funding round. But investors were more willing to put in money when the earlier, higher price was proposed. The difference between $1.4 trillion and $1.25 trillion shows that investors now want more proof before agreeing to such a high price. A successful Anthropic stock market listing could provide some of that proof. The October 30 deadline will show whether OpenAI can raise the full $30 billion it wants.