OpenAI $30B Funding Round at $1.4T Valuation: What We Know

OpenAI is seeking commitments for a funding round of roughly $30 billion at a valuation above $1.4 trillion, and is trying to wrap up the deal before rival Anthropic makes its expected public-market debut in mid-November, according to a Reuters report published October 19, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks are described as fast-moving and not final. Neither the valuation nor the list of participating investors has been settled, Reuters reported. OpenAI has not publicly commented on the terms.

The terms under discussion

According to the Reuters account:

• Size: about $30 billion in new capital.
• Valuation: above $1.4 trillion, which would make OpenAI the most valuable private company in the world by a wide margin.
• Timing: OpenAI wants investor commitments in place before Anthropic’s IPO, expected around the middle of November.
• Investors: Existing backers including Japan’s SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX are in talks to participate, one of the people said. OpenAI also met last week with sovereign wealth funds and long-only funds, the report said.

The proposed valuation would be a sharp step up from OpenAI’s last primary round. In March 2026, the company closed a round of approximately $122 billion at a post-money valuation of $852 billion, a raise that included a commitment of up to $50 billion from Amazon. A $1.4 trillion mark would represent an increase of roughly 64% in about seven months.

The revenue pitch

OpenAI is presenting investors with an annualized revenue figure of about $50 billion, and projecting that the figure will rise to roughly $70 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported. The $70 billion number is a forecast rather than revenue already earned.

At the proposed price, the round would value OpenAI at about 28 times its stated current run rate, and about 20 times its year-end target.

The two leading AI labs do not report revenue on the same basis, which complicates direct comparison. OpenAI uses net revenue accounting for sales through partners and has publicly accused Anthropic of inflating its revenue by booking the full value of contracts sold through third-party cloud providers. Anthropic has disclosed third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, up from about $11.6 billion in the second quarter — a quarterly figure, not an annualized run rate.

Why the timing matters

Several reports on the round framed the timing as deliberate. Once Anthropic’s IPO prospectus becomes public and its shares begin trading, investors will have a market price and audited financials for OpenAI’s closest competitor. Closing a private round first lets OpenAI set its valuation before that public benchmark exists.

Anthropic filed confidentially for an IPO in June. Its shares had already traded at an implied valuation of about $1.2 trillion on secondary markets as of July, a level at which it briefly passed OpenAI on paper. A fresh primary round above $1.4 trillion would put OpenAI back ahead going into Anthropic’s listing.

OpenAI’s own public listing remains further out. Reporting in August indicated the company was leaning toward a 2027 IPO, with chief executive Sam Altman holding out for a valuation of at least $1 trillion. The private round under discussion would clear that bar before any listing.

Where the money goes

OpenAI’s capital needs are driven overwhelmingly by compute. The company has signed multi-year agreements for data center capacity, chips, and power with partners including Nvidia, Broadcom, Oracle, and SoftBank, and has outlined spending plans that run into the hundreds of billions of dollars through the end of the decade.

SoftBank, which led earlier OpenAI financing, has turned to debt markets to fund its commitments, including a $20 billion bond sale tied to its OpenAI investment. Its participation in a new round would add to an already concentrated exposure for the Japanese group.

A $30 billion round, while large by venture standards, covers only a fraction of OpenAI’s announced infrastructure commitments. It would, however, extend the company’s runway and strengthen its negotiating position with suppliers and lenders as it continues to finance data center projects.

Market backdrop

The fundraising push comes during a choppy stretch for AI-linked assets. Asian chip stocks fell earlier this week on investor concerns about the sustainability of AI spending before rebounding on Wednesday, and Korean AI company Elice dropped more than 30% in its public market debut on Tuesday. In the U.S., investors are bracing for third-quarter reports from Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, whose capital expenditure guidance is the single largest driver of demand for AI compute.

Separately, Politico reported this week that OpenAI has dropped its push for strict U.S. export controls on advanced chips to China, a shift in the company’s policy stance that comes as it courts a wider set of international investors.

What it means

OpenAI is trying to set the price before the market does. The most direct reading of the timing is that OpenAI wants a private valuation on the books before Anthropic’s public trading gives investors a live comparison. If the round closes above $1.4 trillion, OpenAI enters Anthropic’s IPO window with a higher headline number; if Anthropic trades strongly after listing, OpenAI’s investors will have bought in before the comparison could push the price higher.

Investors are being asked to pay up for growth. At roughly 28 times current annualized revenue, the round prices in continued rapid growth and, eventually, margins that cover OpenAI’s compute bills. Differences in how OpenAI and Anthropic recognize revenue mean the headline run-rate comparisons should be treated with caution until both companies publish audited figures on a comparable basis.

Winners and losers: Existing holders, including SoftBank, MGX, Microsoft, and employees with vested equity, would see a large mark-up. Sovereign and long-only funds get access to OpenAI before any IPO, at a price that leaves less upside. Anthropic’s bankers face a higher reference point when they set the IPO range.

What to watch: whether the round closes before Anthropic prices its shares, the final valuation and lead investors, any disclosure of OpenAI’s audited financials, and how Anthropic’s prospectus presents its own revenue when it becomes public.