Recently, OpenAI's funding issues have drawn widespread attention. Renowned founder Sam Altman (Ottman) was forced to initiate a $4 billion funding round to ensure the smooth progress of its "Stargate" project. According to reports, OpenAI urgently needs to raise the remaining $3 billion. This project aims to establish multiple data centers across the United States and is touted as the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure plan in history.
Initially, SoftBank Group had led the investment with $1 billion in this project. However, due to some conflicts during the project's progress, the relationship between the two parties began to tense. OpenAI and SoftBank clashed over the location of the data centers and the scale of investment. SoftBank threatened to reduce its investment unless OpenAI restructures by the end of the year. Now, OpenAI has had to sign a $3 billion data center service agreement with Oracle, hoping to alleviate current financial pressure by increasing power capacity.
Although OpenAI's annual revenue has reached $1 billion, it still incurs an annual loss of $5 billion, making its path to profitability even more distant. According to estimates, OpenAI is expected to achieve profitability by 2029. Currently, OpenAI is in talks with multiple potential investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund, India's Reliance, and the UAE's MGX, in an effort to secure more financial support for the "Stargate" project.
At the same time, internal issues within OpenAI cannot be ignored. The company recently failed in its acquisition of the startup Windsurf, and core team members have been frequently poached by competitors, which undoubtedly poses challenges to the company's stability. External competitive pressures are also increasing, as companies like Meta are investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure, posing greater challenges to OpenAI.
OpenAI's funding crisis and internal challenges are intertwined, and its future development path is not smooth. Market confidence in its continued growth is beginning to waver.