According to Windows Central, OpenAI is in initial talks with investors to raise up to $100 billion in a new funding round, which could push its market valuation to approximately $750 billion. This would mark a 50% jump from its reported $500 billion valuation last October. Potential investors named in the deal include SoftBank, Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi-backed MGX, and T. Rowe Price. Separately, the company is reportedly preparing for what could be one of the largest IPOs in history, with a potential valuation around $1 trillion. That IPO filing could happen with regulators as early as the second half of 2026. This news also follows separate talks for OpenAI to raise $10 billion from Amazon, a deal that would include using Amazon’s Trainium chips.
The Money Furnace
Here’s the thing: these numbers are almost incomprehensible. We’re talking about a company seeking a funding round that’s larger than the entire market cap of most Fortune 500 companies. And it wants to do this just a few months after reportedly hitting a $500 billion valuation. It signals one undeniable fact: building and scaling frontier AI is insanely, almost frighteningly, expensive. The reported $10 billion deal with Amazon isn’t just for cash—it’s a strategic swap for specialized AI chips. That tells you where a huge chunk of this capital is going. It’s not just for talent; it’s for the raw, physical compute power, the energy, and the infrastructure. The cost of being a leader in this race is becoming a barrier that maybe only a handful of entities on Earth can even attempt to cross.
IPO or Bust?
So why the rush toward a 2026 IPO? A trillion-dollar public offering isn’t just an exit strategy; it’s a necessity. Current investors, from employees to venture funds like Thrive Capital, need a path to liquidity. You can’t just keep raising private rounds forever, especially at these scales. An IPO is the classic endgame for this kind of hyper-growth narrative. But it also introduces a new level of scrutiny. Right now, OpenAI operates with a unique, often opaque, capped-profit structure. Going public means quarterly earnings calls, intense pressure for profitability, and answering to public market investors who might be less patient with “investment for the future” narratives. Can a company whose core product is rumored to cost hundreds of millions just to run actually satisfy Wall Street’s short-term demands? That’s the trillion-dollar question.
Bubble or Building?
Now, you have to look at the context. This report comes amid growing chatter that investor interest in generative AI is waning and that the industry is struggling to find clear paths to profitability. So is this a final, massive capital infusion before the music stops? Or is it proof that OpenAI is so far ahead that it’s playing a completely different game, one where only the biggest bets matter? I think it’s a bit of both. There’s absolutely a speculative bubble in the broader AI startup space. But OpenAI, backed by Microsoft and now potentially this colossal war chest, seems to be building something it hopes will be permanent—the foundational infrastructure for the next era of computing. Whether that justifies these valuations is what the next two years will determine. Basically, they’re not just raising money; they’re building a financial moat as wide as the Grand Canyon.
