oftBank just can’t seem to stop bankrolling OpenAI.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Japanese conglomerate is in talks to invest up to an additional $30 billion in OpenAI. This comes as the AI firm continues its quest to garner up to $100 billion in new capital.
OpenAI is courting investors left and right for this 12-figure goal. The company is in talks with sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East to contribute around $50 billion and discussed a $10 billion investment from Amazon.
If the round goes through, OpenAI and SoftBank would break a record that they set themselves last year, when SoftBank led a $41 billion funding round in the company, announced in March and completed in December.
- The round would also skyrocket OpenAI’s valuation to $830 billion and widen its lead against Anthropic, which is reportedly eyeing a $350 billion valuation in its upcoming sweep of funding.
- As it stands, SoftBank already owns roughly 11% of OpenAI, having sold off its nearly $6 billion stake in Nvidia to plunge into OpenAI.
SoftBank also bets on OpenAI as investors flock to rival Anthropic, which reportedly doubled its upcoming funding round target from $10 billion to $20 billion amid its strategic success among enterprise clients.