OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind ChatGPT, is reportedly negotiating a funding round that could jack up its valuation to $340 billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, is set to lead the funding effort, with plans to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion.
If successful, the deal would elevate SoftBank to the top spot, surpassing Microsoft as OpenAI’s largest investor.
WSJ said the new agreement would see Microsoft relinquish its exclusive status as OpenAI’s cloud service provider.
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According to the report, the funding round is still in the works, as sources say the final investment figure is yet to be decided.
“The talks are ongoing and the amount that SoftBank could invest in primary equity into OpenAI is a moving target,” a source told WSJ.
Last year, OpenAI was valued at $157 billion during its last funding round in October.
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The company is reportedly planning to use the new capital to support its operational expenses and fund ambitious projects like Stargate, an initiative to build AI data centers across the US in collaboration with SoftBank and Oracle.
The discussions come amid heightened competition in the AI space, with DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, recently surpassing ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app on the Apple store — a development that rattled global stock markets.
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