According to a report published by Bloomberg on Tuesday, OpenAI is in negotiations with investors, seeking to raise at least $30 billion in a new round of pre-IPO financing, with a valuation that could reach approximately $1.4 trillion. Sources familiar with the matter said that these negotiations indicate that this ChatGPT developer is experiencing another significant increase in valuation just months after its last private financing round; meanwhile, OpenAI has also further postponed its long-awaited listing plans.

OpenAI Seeking $30 Billion in Pre-IPO Financing

The scale of this new financing round for OpenAI will rank among the top of any private tech company financings, and just looking at the numbers is enough to illustrate the accelerating pace of the artificial intelligence competition. Bloomberg reports that the company is seeking to raise at least $30 billion from investors, with a valuation approaching $1.4 trillion.

Previous financing and valuation background

This is not the first time that OpenAI has conducted large-scale financing this year. In March, the company completed a round of financing worth $122 billion, with a valuation of $852 billion. At that time, this round of financing was considered to be OpenAI's last private placement before going public. Less than six months later, OpenAI returned to the negotiating table to seek to raise several hundred billion dollars more, indicating that the scale of capital required to build and operate cutting-edge AI systems continues to exceed external expectations in recent times.

Investors are seeking to enter before IPO.

According to Bloomberg, investors are still eager to seize investment opportunities before the expected debut of OpenAI in the public market. Although the company has not yet confirmed a specific IPO date, and the new capital will be added to the already substantial financing, the market's enthusiasm for pre-listing equity remains high, especially when the valuation exceeds one trillion dollars. This enthusiasm also indicates that the market places more emphasis on the growth trajectory of OpenAI rather than just short-term profit indicators.

IPO postponed in favor of prioritizing the security of AI

OpenAI was once thought to potentially go public this year, but that timeline is no longer applicable. CEO Sam Altman has ruled out the possibility of a public offering in 2026 and stated that the company prefers to prioritize ensuring the safety of AI before facing the scrutiny and pressure of the public market.

Sam Altman Emphasizes Safety First

Altman made a direct statement regarding the reasons for delaying the listing. In an interview with Fortune magazine, he said, "I believe that there is a 10% chance by the end of this decade of killing everyone, which is unacceptable." He was responding to warnings from security researchers about the survival risks associated with advanced AI systems. For the head of a company preparing to raise funds with a valuation of $1.4 trillion, these remarks are quite noteworthy and indicate that the OpenAI management believes that security issues are directly related to the pace and structure of their listing process.

AI Survival risks are emphasized

Postponing IPO to address security concerns is not a conventional corporate move. This indicates that the management of OpenAI believes that the risks associated with the more powerful AI model are severe enough to slow down a process that would otherwise inject liquidity into the company and promote public accountability. For investors evaluating this round of new financing, this statement adds an element of uncertainty to the timeline, despite the company continuing to conduct large-scale private placements.

Revenue Growth and Market Positioning

Even though the schedule of IPO has been postponed, the business fundamentals of OpenAI seem to be accelerating. Reports cited by Bloomberg and TechCrunch show that the company's annualized revenue has grown by 70% since July, reaching $40 billion in August.

Focusing on coding tools to drive revenue recovery

This growth occurred earlier this year, after Anthropic once led OpenAI in some markets. OpenAI has recently refocused on key areas such as coding tools, which seems to have driven a business rebound and significantly increased revenue in just a few months. This is exactly the kind of data that investors hope to see when facing the need for tens of billions of dollars in new capital, and it also provides some real revenue support for a valuation of $1.4 trillion.

Competition with Anthropic

The competition between OpenAI and Anthropic is almost the backdrop to every move made by both companies. The brief advantage Anthropic held at the beginning of the year clearly attracted attention within OpenAI, and the shift towards coding-related products seems to be a direct response to that.

The Relationship Between Financing Rounds and the Future of IPO

At present, none of this information has been finally confirmed. OpenAI has not responded to TechCrunch's request for comments regarding the negotiations. The targets of $30 billion, a valuation of $1.4 trillion, and revenue figures all come from Bloomberg reports, rather than official company statements.

As a transitional round before IPO

If this round of financing is ultimately completed, Bloomberg suggests that it is expected to serve as a transitional round towards the final IPO. In fact, this means that OpenAI is attempting to secure sufficient private capital first in order to continue funding its infrastructure and research ambitions, while deciding at a later stage when and under what security conditions to prepare for a public offering.

Lack of official confirmation and uncertainty

Until the details are confirmed in OpenAI, the valuations of $30 billion and $1.4 trillion remain merely estimates in reports and not established facts. This uncertainty is significant for those who follow the broader AI financing market: if this round of financing is indeed completed under the terms currently being discussed, then a transaction of such scale and valuation will set a new standard for what is considered "huge" in private AI financing, assuming it actually happens.

This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and has been reviewed by an editorial team.