OpenAI has reportedly raised $11 billion in a funding round that sources told Bloomberg could grow by as much as $9 billion more in the coming weeks. Investors wired the funds to the company today, according to those sources, who did not identify the backers. OpenAI could raise up to $9 billion in additional funding as part of the round, which is expected to value the company at $1.25 trillion.
Microsoft is among the possible participants. The company contributed to at least four of OpenAI's previous rounds, including its most recent $122 billion raise in March, which also drew Nvidia, Amazon and about two dozen others. A valuation of $1.25 trillion would potentially put OpenAI on track to surpass Anthropic's market capitalization.
Anthropic hopes to reach a $1.5 trillion valuation in its upcoming initial public offering, though several of its investors reportedly do not see that as a realistic goal. According to the Wall Street Journal, one shareholder suggested the company pursue a valuation closer to $1 trillion. Anthropic's IPO filing revealed that its quarterly revenue jumped 1,127% year over year in the third quarter.
OpenAI closed that quarter with $50 billion in net annualized revenue, a 77% year-over-year increase, the Financial Times reported last month. Growth was driven by its enterprise business, which saw sales more than double. OpenAI President Greg Brockman said Wednesday that the company experienced a slowdown in the first half of the year, with growth accelerating after the June launch of GPT-5.6 Sol, the immediate predecessor to GPT-6 Astra. Brockman also credited the ChatGPT Work productivity application and coding tools.
OpenAI added to its enterprise portfolio on Thursday with GPT-6 Cyber, which can perform most cybersecurity tasks better than GPT-6 Astra, the company's most capable general-purpose model. OpenAI engineers used it to develop 948 Linux exploits and uncover 81 high-severity zero-day flaws in Firefox.
OpenAI plans to go public sometime in 2027, and today's cash infusion should make it easier to finance its steep infrastructure expenses until the listing. In July, The Information reported that the ChatGPT developer has more than $665 billion worth of chip and data center commitments. OpenAI has developed a custom inference accelerator with Broadcom as part of an effort to lower its long-term hardware spending.
Anthropic is expected to kick off its IPO roadmap next week and reportedly plans to go public before Thanksgiving.
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