According to sources who spoke with Wired magazine, OpenAI will resume its latest round of funding on Monday, July 28, to complete its $40 billion funding plan announced in March this year. This round of funding will be led by Japanese investment giant SoftBank, aiming to raise the remaining $30 billion.
Before this round of funding, OpenAI had already completed its first round of financing of $10 billion earlier this year, with SoftBank contributing $7.5 billion and the remaining $2.5 billion coming from other investor groups. With the injection of $30 billion in this round (of which SoftBank will contribute $22.5 billion and other investor groups $7.5 billion), OpenAI's total valuation will reach $300 billion, making it one of the highest-valued private startups in history.
OpenAI's Funding Landscape and Strategic Partnerships
According to PitchBook data, since its establishment in 2015, OpenAI has raised a total of $63.92 billion in funding. Its extensive list of investors includes Microsoft, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Coatue Management, NVIDIA, and renowned individuals such as Reid Hoffman. Among these, Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI is particularly close; Microsoft provides OpenAI with massive cloud computing resources, while OpenAI grants Microsoft exclusive rights to use its core models.
The "Stargate" Project and Company Structure Controversies
Aside from funding, OpenAI is also collaborating with companies like SoftBank to advance an artificial intelligence data center project spanning four years and expected to invest over $50 billion, dubbed the "Stargate" project. The initiative aims to build new computing capabilities totaling 10 gigawatts across the United States. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has actively pushed for the signing of relevant agreements, but according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, there are disagreements between the two sides on details such as the selection of data center locations. Despite this, SoftBank and OpenAI stated jointly to Wired that the "Stargate" project is being urgently advanced, aiming to "empower advanced artificial intelligence and make its benefits widely accessible."
OpenAI's corporate structure has also been a focal point of public attention, even causing strong dissatisfaction from its co-founder Elon Musk. After Musk left the board in 2018, OpenAI established a for-profit division to facilitate fundraising. Last year, Musk sued OpenAI, accusing it of deviating from its original mission of "benefiting humanity" and instead pursuing "Microsoft's profit maximization."
New Structural Proposal and Future Outlook
In response to these controversies, OpenAI proposed a new company structure in May of this year: retaining the non-profit organization's control over OpenAI and transforming its existing for-profit subsidiary into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). The new non-profit organization will hold shares in the PBC, while the PBC will carry out projects with clear public benefits, while still prioritizing shareholder returns. SoftBank's investment in OpenAI also depends on whether this new structure can gain approval from the attorneys general of California and Delaware by early next year.