OpenAI receives fresh billions from SoftBank Group after a funding round.
SoftBank Group has completed its $40 billion investment in OpenAI. Sources report this to CNBC. The Japanese investment group reportedly transferred the final part of the funding last week.
Various tranches
According to sources, SoftBank deposited $22.5 billion in one go, after already paying $7.5 billion. The remaining $17.5 billion came from earlier tranches, partly financed by an investor consortium. The deal was announced in March and is one of the largest investments ever in an AI company.
Part of the capital will go to Stargate, OpenAI’s large-scale data center project in the US. That initiative should account for 10 gigawatts of computing power by 2029 and is supported by, among others, Oracle and SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank. The investment was linked to a major restructuring at OpenAI. The company split a few months ago into a non-profit Foundation and a for-profit Group.
Value of 500 billion dollars
SoftBank partly financed the investment by selling shares in Nvidia and by taking out a loan on its shares in Arm. According to Nikkei Asia, SoftBank now owns approximately 11 percent of OpenAI, making it the largest shareholder after Microsoft.
OpenAI’s valuation continues to rise. After a recent secondary sale, the company is estimated at $500 billion, with rumors of an IPO in 2027.