Gaining momentum, OpenAI plans to launch a new round of financing at a valuation of US$100 billion

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According to people familiar with the matter, Microsoft-backed OpenAI is in early discussions for a new round of financing, its valuation will reach or exceed US$100 billion< /strong>.

Informed sources said that investors who may participate in this round of financing have been included in preliminary discussions. However, these people asked not to be named due to some privacy concerns. In addition, details such as the terms, valuation and timing of this financing round have not yet been finalized, and some changes are still possible.

CB Insights data shows that if this round of financing goes as planned, Open AI will become the second most valuable startup in the United States, second only to Musk’s SpaceX.

According to previous reports by Bloomberg, Open AI will complete a separate tender offer in early January, allowing employees to sell shares at a valuation of US$86 billion. People familiar with the matter said that the tender offer was led by Thrive Capital and investor demand was greater than supply.

A year ago, OpenAI released a chatbot ChatGPT, which can write "human-like" sentences and even poetry based on simple prompts. OpenAI's rapidly growing valuation reflects The company’s artificial intelligence crazes.

At present, Open AI has become the hottest startup company in Silicon Valley, having raised more than $13 billion from Microsoft so far. inspiring a new awareness of the promise of artificial intelligence and changing the landscape of the tech industry in just a few months.

Since then, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet have invested billions of dollars in OpenAI competitor Anthropic.

Salesforce led an investment in Hugging Face, with a valuation of $4.5 billion. Nvidia, a company that designs semiconductors specifically for artificial intelligence tasks, said earlier this month that it had made more than 20 investments in 2023.

According to people familiar with the matter, OpenAI has also held funding discussions with G42, a company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, regarding a new chip plan.

In addition, people familiar with the matter also said that Open AI has discussed It plans to raise US$8 billion to US$10 billion from G42. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was confidential.

It is unclear whether OpenAI’s semiconductor venture investment is related to the company’s broader financing.

Bloomberg reported last month that OpenAI CEO Altman has been seeking funding for a chip manufacturing project code-named "Tigris." Tigris aims to produce semiconductors that can compete with Nvidia, which currently dominates the artificial intelligence chip market.

In October this year, G42 announced a partnership with OpenAI, committed to "Providing cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions to the UAE and regional markets", but did not disclose the specific cooperation Financial details.

G42 was established in 2018 and is led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

In early November, OpenAI's board of directors suddenly fired Altman. At that time, OpenAI's future seemed uncertain, and some investors even considered reducing their holdings to zero.

But after five days of leadership turmoil , Altman was recalled and a new board of directors was appointed.

Open AI’s move is intended to show its attitude to customers that it will refocus on its products after experiencing turmoil.