OpenAI Accelerates $30B Round at $1.4T Valuation Ahead of Anthropic IPO

OpenAI is the artificial intelligence company behind the ChatGPT assistant, and it is negotiating to accelerate a roughly $30 billion financing round at a valuation above $1.4 trillion as it seeks to secure capital before rival Anthropic's expected public market debut.

OpenAI is negotiating to compress the timetable for a roughly $30 billion financing round, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the company seeks to lock in capital before Anthropic's expected public market debut in mid-November. The unusually fast process would value the ChatGPT maker at more than $1.4 trillion, a level that would mark a substantial step up from the $852 billion valuation assigned in its March funding round, Reuters reported.

The round is being discussed with existing backers SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, one of the people said. The proceeds are earmarked for compute and datacenter expansion following the rollout of GPT-6, OpenAI's next-generation model, according to the same account. The financing effort underscores how capital intensity has become the central competitive dynamic in frontier AI, where model training and serving costs scale with user adoption.

ChatGPT's user base has grown to 1.2 billion weekly active users, OpenAI said, a figure that makes the assistant one of the most widely used AI products globally. The Verge reported the user count on the strength of OpenAI's own statement. The scale of that audience carries direct infrastructure consequences: each incremental wave of users adds inference load, and serving large models at that volume requires sustained investment in GPU clusters and data centers.

Why is OpenAI accelerating its fundraising now?

Anthropic is expected to go public in mid-November, according to the Reuters report. That timetable is a key factor in OpenAI's decision to accelerate its own round, the two people familiar with the matter said. By closing a raise before Anthropic's IPO, OpenAI would secure a valuation benchmark and a capital cushion before investors turn their attention to a rival listing.

Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, framed the competitive dynamic as a race between two companies. 'It's really a two-horse race in terms of being public,' Best said in a report published by The Star. The comment reflects a view among capital markets advisers that the first AI developer to complete a public listing could set the tone for how the sector is valued by public investors.

The acceleration also responds to a broader environment of competition for capital across frontier AI. Model developers have been raising at a pace that would have been rare in earlier technology cycles, and OpenAI's move fits a pattern in which financing is treated as a strategic weapon rather than a routine treasury function.

OpenAI's decision to bring in existing investors rather than seek an entirely new syndicate is consistent with the speed of the process. Existing investors can often commit faster than newcomers because they have already completed diligence and internal approval processes. Reuters reported that SoftBank and MGX are in talks to join the round, and their participation would give OpenAI a capital base that is already familiar with the company's business model and infrastructure plans.

What do we know about the $30 billion round and its backers?

OpenAI is negotiating to speed up a round of about $30 billion, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, both existing investors, are in talks to join. The participation of current backers matters because it reduces the time needed to build a syndicate from scratch; a round anchored by incumbents can close faster than one that requires new investor diligence.

The valuation under discussion exceeds $1.4 trillion. That compares with the $852 billion valuation at which OpenAI raised its March round, according to Reuters. The implied increase of roughly $550 billion, or about 64 percent, would place OpenAI among the most valuable private companies in the world, ahead of many publicly traded technology giants.

The structure of the round, including whether it involves primary capital for the company or secondary sales by employees, has not been detailed in the Reuters report. The report describes the proceeds as earmarked for compute and datacenter expansion, which suggests the capital is intended for OpenAI's balance sheet rather than for early investors cashing out.

How does OpenAI's valuation history compare?

OpenAI was valued at $852 billion after its March funding round, according to Reuters. The new round, at more than $1.4 trillion, would represent an increase of roughly $550 billion in about seven months. That pace of appreciation is unusual even for late-stage technology companies, and it reflects both the growth in ChatGPT's user base and the market's conviction that OpenAI will remain one of the two leading frontier AI developers.

The gap between the two valuations also matters for employees and early investors. A higher round typically resets the price at which existing shares are marked, and secondary transactions often follow. Reuters did not report whether the round includes a secondary component, but the valuation increase alone is enough to change the economics for OpenAI's current shareholders.

How will OpenAI use the capital after GPT-6?

The new funds are earmarked for compute and datacenter expansion following the GPT-6 rollout, according to people familiar with the matter. GPT-6 is OpenAI's next-generation frontier model, and the infrastructure that supports it spans both training clusters and the inference systems that serve ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly users.

1. Expanding compute capacity for training and fine-tuning frontier models after GPT-6.
2. Building out datacenters to host inference workloads for ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly active users.
3. Sustaining infrastructure commitments tied to the GPT-6 rollout, as described in the Reuters report.

OpenAI's revenue trajectory underpins the need for scale. The company has told investors that annualized revenue has reached $50 billion and is expected to hit $70 billion by year-end, according to the Reuters report. At that run rate, OpenAI would rank among the fastest-growing software companies ever, but its cost structure is equally unusual: serving models at ChatGPT's current user base consumes energy, GPUs and network capacity at a scale that most public cloud providers do not allocate to a single product.

The $50 billion annualized revenue figure, if accurate, implies that OpenAI's commercial business is growing faster than its user count, or that a meaningful share of users is converting to paid tiers. The $70 billion year-end target suggests the company expects the second half of the year to carry most of the growth. Reuters reported these figures as what OpenAI has told investors, and they have not been independently verified in the report.

The user figure adds context to the capital requirement. ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly active users, as reported by The Verge, represent an audience that most consumer applications never approach. Even if a fraction of those users are on the free tier, the aggregate inference load creates a fixed cost that scales with engagement. OpenAI's choice to raise $30 billion before an IPO suggests it expects that cost curve to continue rising.

What does OpenAI's revenue trajectory mean for the round?

OpenAI has told investors its annualized revenue has reached $50 billion and is expected to hit $70 billion by year-end, according to Reuters. At a $1.4 trillion valuation, the company would be trading at roughly 20 times its year-end revenue target, a multiple that is high by historical software standards but lower than the private-market multiples assigned to some earlier-stage AI companies. The ratio suggests investors are pricing OpenAI as a growth company whose revenue can continue compounding for several years.

The revenue figure also matters for the IPO race. Anthropic, which has not publicly disclosed comparable annualized revenue in the Reuters report, would face investor questions about how it plans to match OpenAI's commercial scale. Public market investors typically demand evidence of durable revenue, and OpenAI's disclosed run rate gives it a measurable advantage heading into the period when both companies will be competing for the same capital.

What role do SoftBank and MGX play in AI infrastructure finance?

SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX are existing backers in talks to join the round, according to Reuters. Existing investors can often commit faster than newcomers because they have already completed diligence and internal approval processes. For a round that OpenAI wants to close before mid-November, that speed is material.

MGX's participation would give the round a Middle East anchor alongside SoftBank's Asian base. A geographically diversified capital base can be useful if export controls or regulatory rules shift in any single jurisdiction, and it reflects the international character of the current AI infrastructure buildout.

How does Anthropic's IPO shape the competitive picture?

Anthropic's expected mid-November IPO is the proximate trigger for OpenAI's accelerated fundraising, according to two people familiar with the matter. A successful listing by Anthropic would give public investors a second large-cap AI pure play to compare against OpenAI, and it could draw capital away from private rounds. By raising first, OpenAI sets a valuation marker that influences how investors price Anthropic's shares.

Edward Best's comment captures the stakes. 'It's really a two-horse race in terms of being public,' he said. Best, who advises companies on listings and capital markets strategy, was quoted in The Star's version of the Reuters exclusive. The observation suggests that public market investors are treating OpenAI and Anthropic as the two benchmark names in frontier AI, rather than the broader field of model developers.

A two-horse framing has consequences for other AI companies. Startups seeking to IPO after Anthropic may face a more crowded field and tougher comparisons. OpenAI's decision to accelerate its raise can be read as a preemptive move to control its own narrative, locking in valuation and liquidity expectations before Anthropic's listing creates an alternative data point.

The timing also affects how the two companies are viewed by regulators. Anthropic's IPO would be the first major test of how a frontier AI developer fares under public market disclosure rules, including reporting on model safety, compute spending and customer concentration. OpenAI's private raise lets it avoid those disclosures for now, but the revenue and user metrics it has shared with investors are likely to become public benchmarks once either company lists.

OpenAI milestones reported in October 2026

Date	Milestone	Source
March 2026	OpenAI completes a funding round at an $852 billion valuation	Reuters
October 2026	OpenAI seeks to accelerate a roughly $30 billion round at a valuation above $1.4 trillion	Reuters
October 2026	ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion weekly active users	The Verge
Mid-November 2026	Anthropic's expected public market debut	Reuters

What do market participants say about the round?

The Reuters report attributes the details of the fundraising to two people familiar with the matter, and The Star's version of the exclusive adds the comment from Edward Best. Best's line about a two-horse race is notable because it comes from a capital markets practitioner rather than an AI researcher, signaling that the financial community is evaluating frontier AI through the lens of public market competition.

The absence of public comment from OpenAI, SoftBank or MGX in the Reuters report leaves several questions open. None of the companies has confirmed the round, and the final size, valuation and investor list could shift before closing. The people familiar with the matter spoke on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters, which is standard for discussions that have not been announced.

What are the risks of an accelerated raise?

Closing a $30 billion round quickly carries execution risk. The people familiar with the matter described the process as unusually fast, which can compress the time available for investor diligence, documentation and regulatory review. If the final terms are not completed before Anthropic's IPO, OpenAI could find itself negotiating in a different market environment, one shaped by Anthropic's public valuation rather than OpenAI's private one.

There is also the question of whether a $1.4 trillion valuation is sustainable. OpenAI's last round valued the company at $852 billion, and the new level would be reached before the company has reported audited financial results. The revenue figures are what OpenAI has told investors, Reuters reported, and they have not been independently verified in the report.

A further risk is timing. If Anthropic's IPO succeeds and its shares appreciate, OpenAI's valuation could look conservative, leaving money on the table. If the IPO struggles, OpenAI's round could be the last private financing completed at a peak multiple. The accelerated timetable is designed to reduce exposure to that uncertainty, but it cannot eliminate it.

How does GPT-6 change OpenAI's capital needs?

GPT-6 is described in the Reuters report as the model whose rollout creates the compute and datacenter needs that the new round would fund. Frontier models at this scale require substantial accelerator clusters for training, and the same infrastructure must then be expanded for inference. OpenAI's choice to raise the capital after GPT-6, rather than before, suggests the company is responding to actual deployment costs rather than hypothetical projections.

The user base compounds the requirement. ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly active users mean that even a small improvement in model efficiency translates into large changes in serving cost. OpenAI has not disclosed the share of users on paid plans, but the $50 billion annualized revenue figure implies a large base of paying customers, and every additional paid user adds to the inference load that the datacenters must support.

What is known about Anthropic's IPO timing?

Reuters reported that Anthropic's expected public market debut is scheduled for mid-November, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report does not specify the exchange, the offer size or the target valuation. What it makes clear is that the timing is a reference point for OpenAI's fundraising, and that the two companies are now competing not only for customers and researchers but also for investor attention.

What happens next?

The immediate milestone is the closing of the round, which OpenAI is trying to complete before Anthropic's expected mid-November IPO. If the round closes at a valuation above $1.4 trillion, it would mark the second major step-up in OpenAI's valuation within a single year, following the $852 billion mark set in March.

After the round, the company's focus is expected to shift to compute and datacenter expansion tied to GPT-6. OpenAI has not announced a public listing of its own, and the Reuters report does not indicate that the accelerated fundraising is a precursor to an IPO. Instead, the raise appears designed to give OpenAI financial flexibility while it remains private.

Anthropic's IPO will test whether the public markets can absorb a frontier AI company at the valuations implied by private rounds. For OpenAI, the test is whether it can maintain its user growth and revenue trajectory while spending heavily on infrastructure. The two questions are linked: if Anthropic's shares perform well, OpenAI's next financing could be even larger; if they struggle, the private valuation benchmark could come under pressure.

1. OpenAI is negotiating to accelerate a roughly $30 billion financing round at a valuation above $1.4 trillion, with SoftBank and MGX in talks to join as existing backers, according to Reuters.
2. ChatGPT has reached 1.2 billion weekly active users, OpenAI said, and the new funds are earmarked for compute and datacenter expansion after the GPT-6 rollout, according to The Verge and Reuters.
3. OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion after its March funding round, meaning the new round would represent an increase of roughly $550 billion, or about 64 percent, based on figures reported by Reuters.
4. Anthropic's expected mid-November IPO is a key factor in the accelerated timeline, according to two people familiar with the matter.
5. OpenAI has told investors annualized revenue reached $50 billion and is expected to hit $70 billion by year-end, according to Reuters.

It's really a two-horse race in terms of being public.Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at Willkie Farr & Gallagher

• Why is OpenAI raising money before Anthropic's IPO?
• OpenAI is seeking to secure investor commitments before Anthropic's expected mid-November public debut, according to two people familiar with the matter. Closing first lets OpenAI set a valuation benchmark and lock in capital before a rival listing draws investor attention.
• How much is OpenAI raising and at what valuation?
• OpenAI is negotiating to accelerate a roughly $30 billion financing round at a valuation above $1.4 trillion, with SoftBank and MGX in talks to join. OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion after its March funding round, Reuters reported.
• What will the money be used for?
• The funds are earmarked for compute and datacenter expansion following the GPT-6 rollout, according to people familiar with the matter.
• How many users does ChatGPT have?
• ChatGPT has reached 1.2 billion weekly active users, OpenAI said, as reported by The Verge.