OpenAI closes $10 billion funding round as AI arms race enters new phase - Silicon Canals

"The round was led by existing backer SoftBank, with significant participation from Microsoft (which has already committed over $13 billion in cumulative investment), Thrive Capital, and a roster of sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. According to reporting from the Financial Times, the deal includes a provision requiring OpenAI to complete its transition from a capped-profit structure to a full for-profit corporation by a set deadline, or face consequences including returning some of the capital raised."

"OpenAI's unusual governance arrangement, a nonprofit board overseeing a profit-seeking subsidiary, has been a source of friction since the dramatic boardroom crisis in late 2023 that briefly ousted CEO Sam Altman. The pressure to convert fully to a for-profit entity reflects investor demand for conventional corporate governance and clearer paths to returns."

"The sheer scale of the round reflects the capital intensity of the current AI landscape. Training frontier models now costs hundreds of millions of dollars per run. OpenAI is simultaneously building out its inference infrastructure, expanding its enterprise product suite, and investing heavily in research toward more capable systems."

OpenAI completed a $10 billion funding round led by SoftBank with participation from Microsoft, Thrive Capital, and sovereign wealth funds, valuing the company at $300 billion. The round includes a requirement for OpenAI to transition from its capped-profit structure to a full for-profit corporation by a deadline or face capital return consequences. This governance shift reflects investor demand for conventional corporate structures and clearer return paths. The massive capital raise addresses the extreme cost of training frontier AI models, which now requires hundreds of millions per run. OpenAI simultaneously invests in inference infrastructure, enterprise products, and research while generating over $5 billion in annualized revenue from ChatGPT subscriptions and enterprise API usage.

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