OpenAI has held recent discussions with large investors about a fresh capital raise that would lift the ChatGPT maker's valuation to about $1.2 trillion before it goes public, the Financial Times reported on Sept. 15, in the account of the report carried by Reuters. The talks are at an early stage, the figure could change over the coming months, and the discussions were initiated by investors rather than by the company. OpenAI declined to comment.
The number under discussion is a step-up from the last round rather than a re-rating from scratch. OpenAI closed a funding round in March with $122 billion in committed capital, valuing the company at $852 billion, according to Reuters. On those two figures, $1.2 trillion would sit about 41 percent above the March mark, a move that would have taken under six months. Accounts of the March round differ slightly in framing: Reuters describes $122 billion of committed capital at an $852 billion valuation, while other accounts of the same transaction describe it as $122 billion raised at an $852 billion post-money valuation.
Secondary reporting adds earlier reference points. TECHi, citing CNBC, puts OpenAI's February round at $110 billion raised on a $730 billion valuation, which would make the level now discussed about 64 percent higher. The same account reports that Amazon committed $50 billion in the March round, with $35 billion of that contingent on an IPO or on reaching artificial general intelligence, that Nvidia and SoftBank committed $30 billion each, and that Microsoft participated again. Those details come from a single secondary account and have not been confirmed by OpenAI.
The timing of the talks follows the listing calendar rather than a declared funding need. Altman said on Sept. 12 that OpenAI would not go public in 2026, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence. Accounts of the FT report say the company filed confidentially with the SEC in June and now points to 2027. Reuters notes that OpenAI and rival Anthropic are both pressing for greater regulation of artificial intelligence, to ensure the technology is developed in ways that promote safety.
Anthropic is heading the other way. It is expected to begin marketing its initial public offering in mid-October at the earliest and to complete the listing days before the US midterm elections in November, Reuters reported earlier this month. TECHi writes that some investors are discussing a listing valued near $2 trillion, against Anthropic's last private valuation of about $965 billion. The contrast is structural rather than rhetorical: one of the two companies is testing public demand for AI equity, while the other is repricing privately, among investors who already own it.
Revenue growth is the case investors are being asked to underwrite. Coverage of the FT report says OpenAI's annualized revenue passed $40 billion last month, a 20 percent month-over-month increase after the July release of the GPT-5.6 model, with the Astra model following this month, and that the company spent $34 billion last year. TECHi frames the same exercise differently: using an earlier run rate of roughly $2 billion of revenue a month, about $24 billion annualized, it calculates that a $1.2 trillion valuation would equal about 50 times annualized revenue. The two anchors are not directly comparable — the $40 billion figure is described as an August run rate after a product launch, while the multiple is TECHi's own arithmetic on older reporting.
The limits of the story matter as much as its headline. The central claim rests on people familiar with the matter, relayed through the Financial Times and then by wire services, and OpenAI has declined to comment. No round size, lead investor or closing date has been reported, and the FT's own caveat is that the figure could change over the coming months. Talks opened by investors are not an agreement to invest, and a private valuation of this kind is a mark agreed with a small group of buyers rather than a price set in an open market; it carries none of the disclosure a listed company must publish. For now, $1.2 trillion describes a reported topic of discussion, not a completed transaction.
Sources
- [Reuters via AOL – OpenAI mulls funding round at $1.2 trillion valuation ahead of IPO, FT reports](aol.com)
- [Channel NewsAsia – OpenAI mulls funding round at $1.2 trillion valuation ahead of IPO, FT reports](channelnewsasia.com)
- [TECHi – OpenAI is in talks at a $1.2 trillion valuation, days after calling for an AI slowdown](techi.com)
- [All-Weather Media – Report: OpenAI is considering a $1.2 trillion valuation in a pre-IPO funding round](allweatherfinance.com)
