OpenAI announces $110bn funding round that would value firm at $840bn

Deal signals feverish pace of AI investment with multibillion-dollar backings from Nvidia, Amazon and more

OpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110bn in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840bn, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence.

It’s more than double the amount the company raised last year, when it racked up $40bn in the largest private tech deal on record.

This year’s funding round, which is still open, includes a $30bn investment from SoftBank, $30bn from Nvidia, and $50bn from Amazon, and comes ahead of the AI startup’s expected mega-IPO later this year. Even more investors are expected to join.

“We’re super excited about this deal,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Friday. “AI is going to happen everywhere. It’s transforming the whole economy, and the world needs a lot of collective computing power to meet the demand.”