The fundraising push follows an internal “code red” shift as OpenAI redirects resources toward strengthening ChatGPT amid intensifying competition.

  • The fundraising effort is still reportedly at an early stage, with timing, terms, and investor demand yet to be finalized.
  • Major backers and partners are being tapped as OpenAI looks to diversify funding beyond existing relationships.
  • The push reflects the rising cost and intensity of competition in building and running advanced AI systems.

OpenAI is reportedly seeking to raise up to $100 billion to fund its expansion, a round that could value the company at as much as $830 billion if completed in full.

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The fundraising is still in early stages and could close by the end of the first quarter at the earliest, though terms and investor demand remain uncertain, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Deep Pockets Fuel OpenAI’s Growth Plans

OpenAI needs large amounts of capital to train and deploy advanced AI models and remain competitive and is also reportedly weighing a potential initial public offering.

SoftBank agreed earlier this year to invest $30 billion in OpenAI and sold its $5.8 billion Nvidia stake to fund the bet. OpenAI is expected to secure the remaining $22.5 billion of SoftBank’s planned financing by year-end.

The company has also signed recent agreements, including a content-licensing deal and a $1 billion investment from Disney, and is expected to seek additional funding from sovereign wealth funds, having previously raised capital from UAE-based MGX.

‘Code Red’ Focus As Competition Heats Up

Earlier this month, CEO Sam Altman declared a “code red,” directing staff to focus on improving ChatGPT after Alphabet’s Google released a model that outperformed OpenAI’s software on several benchmarks.

OpenAI Chief Research Officer Mark Chen said the company has made similar moves before to concentrate resources on core priorities. Since then, OpenAI has rolled out updates to ChatGPT, including a new model designed to improve performance in coding and science tasks, along with a new image-generation model, according to a Bloomberg report.

Massive Infrastructure Bet 

OpenAI has committed to spending $1.4 trillion on infrastructure over the next eight years and is expected to burn more than $200 billion in cash through 2030, according to people familiar with its plans.

The fundraising effort follows a wave of interconnected AI deals, including a reported $10 billion Amazon investment tied to the use of Amazon’s Trainium chips, as OpenAI works to diversify its computing partners beyond Microsoft. Partners such as Oracle and CoreWeave have seen their market values fall in recent months amid concerns over financing risks tied to large-scale data-center buildouts.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for OpenAI was ‘bearish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.

OPENAI sentiment and message volume as of December 18| Source: Stocktwits

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