OpenAI Nears Record $110B Funding Round
OpenAI is reportedly closing a $110B funding round at an $840B post-money valuation, which would be the largest private funding deal in tech history. The deal highlights a circular investment dynamic, with anchor investors like Amazon and Nvidia also serving as key infrastructure partners and customers.
This record-breaking $110 billion funding round more than doubles the $40 billion OpenAI raised in a landmark deal in 2025, which at the time was the largest private tech financing on record. The new capital injection saw participation from tech giants Amazon with a $50 billion commitment, and both Nvidia and SoftBank contributing $30 billion each. The deal structure highlights the immense capital required to lead in the AI sector, with a significant portion of the investment tied to infrastructure. As part of the deal, OpenAI will expand its use of Amazon Web Services by an additional $100 billion over eight years and will utilize 2 gigawatts of AWS's in-house Trainium AI chips. This secures critical computing capacity as OpenAI projects its total compute spending to reach roughly $600 billion through 2030. This funding arrives as OpenAI's user base and revenue show explosive growth. The company reports over 900 million weekly active users, with more than 50 million paying consumer subscribers and 9 million paying business users. Its annualized revenue run rate hit an estimated $20 billion in 2025, a significant jump from $6 billion in 2024 and $2 billion in 2023. Despite rapid revenue growth, profitability remains a future goal, with the company reportedly not expecting to be cash-flow positive until at least 2029. The high costs are driven by immense R&D and the soaring expense of training and running its AI models. The company's losses are projected to continue, with some reports indicating a potential cumulative loss of $115 billion between now and 2029. The investment landscape for AI has become intensely competitive. Arch-rival Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI employees, recently raised $30 billion at a $380 billion post-money valuation. Anthropic has focused on the enterprise market, with its run-rate revenue reaching $14 billion, growing over 10 times annually for the past three years. Microsoft, while not part of this specific round, remains a crucial partner and major shareholder, owning a 27% stake in OpenAI's for-profit arm. A renegotiated partnership in October 2025 removed Microsoft's right of first refusal as OpenAI's compute provider while committing OpenAI to purchase $250 billion in Azure services. This shift allows OpenAI to diversify its infrastructure providers, as evidenced by the new AWS deal.
