OpenAI Seeks Massive Private Raise, Valuation May Reach $750 Billion

OpenAI has held preliminary discussions with potential investors about a very large private funding round that could value the company well above its recent secondary transaction level and potentially as high as seven to eight hundred billion dollars. The talks, which remain early and subject to change, contemplate a raise in the tens of billions of dollars and in some scenarios could reach roughly fifty to one hundred billion dollars.

Estimates of the target valuation vary, with one set of figures centering near seven hundred and fifty billion dollars and other accounts suggesting a range extending toward eight hundred and thirty billion dollars. The range notably exceeds the roughly five hundred billion dollar valuation implied by an October secondary sale of employee shares, in which employees sold about six point six billion dollars of stock. Financial data firms also estimate that OpenAI holds a substantial cash position, currently cited at more than sixty four billion dollars, giving the company flexibility in structuring a large private round.

Reported potential uses for proceeds include a major expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure to cover substantial cloud computing costs and to accelerate product development and commercial growth. Large inflows of capital would allow OpenAI to secure long term compute capacity, fund research into next generation models, and broaden enterprise deployments that require both scale and reliability.

Potential participants under discussion reportedly include major cloud vendors and sovereign wealth funds, with one prospective anchor investor tentatively linked to a multi billion dollar commitment from a large cloud provider. Soliciting sovereign funds would reflect the global strategic interest in AI capabilities, and corporate participation would underline the close alignment between model development and compute supply chains.

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Company and investor timelines for a possible closing are fluid, but some participants expect a deal could be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2026 if investor appetite and terms align. All parties emphasize that talks are preliminary, that terms are subject to negotiation, and that no definitive agreements have been announced.

The fundraising conversations come as OpenAI continues to chart multiple paths to scale. Management has been preparing for eventual public market options, and some long term observers have suggested a public valuation in the vicinity of one trillion dollars is conceivable depending on growth and market conditions. For now the company remains private, balancing an internal capital position with external financing options to support rapid investment needs.

A successful round of this magnitude would be among the largest private financings in technology history, with implications for competition in AI research, concentration of computational resources, and bargaining dynamics with cloud providers. Regulators, customers, and policymakers will be watching both the structure of any deal and how a surge of capital might accelerate development of ever more powerful AI systems. For now the market awaits confirmation of any definitive agreement, the identities of anchor investors, and the final valuation that will determine how far OpenAI has climbed on the path toward the public markets.