A potential $100 billion funding round would make OpenAI more valuable than all but a handful of S&P 500 companies while remaining private, according to people familiar with the negotiations who spoke to Bloomberg.
The ChatGPT creator is reportedly finalizing the first phase of what would become the largest private financing in history, with allocations expected by the end of February 2026.
Strategic investors including Amazon, SoftBank Group, Nvidia, and Microsoft are leading the initial tranche, with commitments that could approach $100 billion from those four corporations alone.
Amazon is expected to invest up to $50 billion, potentially expanding OpenAI's use of Amazon's Trainium-based AI servers and cloud services. SoftBank is considering roughly $30 billion, while Nvidia has discussed around $20 billion to reinforce its position as the primary hardware provider for AI infrastructure.
OpenAI's pre-money valuation stands at approximately $730 billion under current terms, with the total valuation potentially exceeding $850 billion after new capital infusion. That figure surpasses earlier expectations of around $830 billion and represents a dramatic step-up from the company's $157 billion valuation during its late 2024 funding round.
SoftBank shares jumped as much as 4% in Tokyo trading following reports of the deal. The Japanese conglomerate held an 11% stake in OpenAI as of December 2025.
A second phase of fundraising will target venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors later this year, potentially pushing total proceeds substantially higher than the initial $100 billion mark.
The scale reflects extraordinary capital demands for frontier AI development. Training advanced large language models requires vast clusters of high-performance GPUs, specialized networking hardware, and hyperscale data centers with sophisticated cooling systems.
Wedbush Securities analysts noted that additional capital should support OpenAI's forward growth plans and benefit supply chain partners including Nvidia and AMD involved in future infrastructure buildouts.
Microsoft has already embedded OpenAI's models across its Azure cloud platform and enterprise software offerings. Amazon's participation may be linked to expanded use of Amazon's cloud services through its AWS division.
The unprecedented valuation comes despite ongoing questions about revenue durability and profitability timelines. Investors appear willing to tolerate near-term losses in exchange for long-term positioning within what they view as a foundational technology layer for productivity software, search automation, content generation, and enterprise workflows.
