OpenAI Secures $11 Billion in Funding at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation, Full-Year Funding Target Shrinks

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that investors had already wired the roughly $11 billion into OpenAI's accounts on Friday. Under the current arrangement, the remaining funds are expected to arrive over the coming weeks. If the total ultimately reaches $20 billion, the size of this funding round will be significantly larger than the portion completed so far, but still below the company's original target.

In fact, OpenAI initially hoped to raise $30 billion or even more through this round, with a target valuation that at one point reached $1.4 trillion. As the funding negotiations progressed, the company subsequently lowered its fundraising target to about $20 billion and adjusted the valuation to $1.25 trillion. Now the first tranche of funds received is only $11 billion, reflecting a clear gap between the fundraising process and the original plan.

This is closely related to recent changes in the capital market environment for the artificial intelligence industry. Over the past period, investor enthusiasm for AI companies has cooled somewhat, the technology stock market has seen a marked correction, and the market has begun to focus more on whether the massive infrastructure spending by AI companies can ultimately translate into sufficient commercial returns. Huge expenditures on data center construction, procurement of advanced chips, and power supply have also raised more questions among investors about the industry's long-term profitability.

The results of the U.S. midterm elections have further increased market uncertainty. The Democrats won a clear victory, and voters in multiple regions expressed strong opposition to the construction of large data centers. This means that future data center projects may face stricter regulation, approvals, and community resistance. For OpenAI, which relies heavily on computing resources, these changes not only affect the pace of infrastructure expansion but may also influence future capital expenditure plans.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's main competitor Anthropic is also preparing for a listing. Bloomberg previously reported that some potential investors' expectations for Anthropic's listing valuation have fallen significantly, with some even suggesting its valuation could be as low as $1.1 trillion, whereas the market had once expected it to reach about $2 trillion. The fundraising and listing plans of the two companies are jointly reflecting changes in the valuation system of the AI industry's capital markets.

OpenAI previously said it intended to go public in 2026 but later postponed those plans. The market now generally expects the company may launch an initial public offering at some point in 2027. However, the specific timing of the listing has not been officially confirmed.

It is worth noting that OpenAI completed a funding round of as much as $122 billion in March this year, when the company's valuation was about $852 billion. Now that the company's valuation has risen further to $1.25 trillion, it means investors are still willing to pay a very high premium for its leading position in the AI field, but the fundraising target having been reduced from more than $30 billion initially to the currently planned $20 billion also shows that the capital market is no longer chasing AI concepts as unreservedly as before.

For OpenAI, this $11 billion in funding can provide important financial support for subsequent model research and development, computing infrastructure construction, and expansion of commercial operations. But amid increasingly fierce competition, constantly swelling infrastructure spending, and a more complex regulatory environment, how to prove that these huge investments can ultimately bring sustainable revenue and profits will become the core issue the company must face in its next stage.