Where might OpenAI's next $100 billion financing come from?

Wallstreetcn
2025.12.24 04:14

Traditional American financial investors are expected to provide only a small portion of the funding, around $10 billion; cash-rich tech giants like Amazon are in talks for at least $10 billion in investment; sovereign wealth funds and large banks are seen as important potential sources of funding, with Abu Dhabi's MGX fund and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund both showing strong interest

OpenAI is seeking to raise an unprecedented $100 billion in a new round of financing, a massive funding requirement that will test the financial capacity and willingness of the world's largest investment institutions. According to The Information, this round of financing will value the company at approximately $750 billion before the investment.

In terms of funding sources, traditional American financial investors are expected to provide only a small portion of the total funding, around $10 billion, as even large funds managing hundreds of billions of dollars in assets will limit their exposure to any single company.

Cash-rich tech giants like Amazon are negotiating to invest at least $10 billion, a deal that could help OpenAI cover part of the $38 billion it plans to spend on AWS servers over the next few years.

Sovereign wealth funds and large banks are seen as important potential sources of funding, with Abu Dhabi's MGX fund and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund both showing strong interest. Achieving this scale of financing will require an innovative combination of multiple funding sources.

Limited Participation from U.S. Financial Institutions

Traditional financial investors in the U.S., including large retail fund management companies that support private startups, are expected to provide only a small portion of the total financing.

Even those institutions managing hundreds of billions of dollars in assets will limit their exposure to any single company, with total contributions from such investors expected to be around $10 billion.

Large banks may provide more support, with institutions like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley having previously lent to OpenAI while also being clients of the company.

JP Morgan recently stated its willingness to provide equity investments of up to $10 billion for companies engaged in key U.S. technologies like artificial intelligence. These banks hope to establish good relationships with a company that may conduct a large-scale IPO in the coming years.

Tech Giants Compete for Cloud Service Orders

Cash-rich tech companies, especially those eager to win OpenAI's cloud business, may take on a larger share of the investment.

According to previous reports, Amazon is negotiating to invest at least $10 billion in the company, a deal that could help OpenAI cover part of the $38 billion it plans to spend on AWS servers over the next few years.

Nvidia has committed to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI this year to help the ChatGPT maker build its own data centers, although the deal has not yet been finalized. OpenAI may also seek contributions from the chip manufacturer for the new equity financing round, similar to what Nvidia did last year.

Microsoft has previously invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, holding a 27% stake in the company, and may consider investing more to maintain its stake size. Apple has approximately $132.4 billion in cash and other liquid securities on its balance sheet and has reached an agreement with OpenAI regarding handling some queries for the Siri assistant, but its future relationship remains uncertain.

Sovereign Wealth Funds Become Important Drivers

Sovereign wealth funds are seen as important sources of capital. The Abu Dhabi Fund MGX, supported by the UAE government, may take on a significant portion of the financing round. This fund participated in OpenAI's $6.6 billion financing round last October and recently took part in a $60 billion tender offer valued at $500 billion.

MGX has both the willingness and the capability to participate on a large scale, but one question is whether the fund will lean towards OpenAI or its equally supported competitors, Anthropic and xAI. Singapore's GIC may also compete, although it has already invested in Anthropic.

Another major sovereign investor to watch is Saudi Arabia's $925 billion Public Investment Fund's AI project, Humain. Reports suggest that the fund had discussions with OpenAI this year about participating in a financing round led by SoftBank. Humain may hope for OpenAI to build data centers in Saudi Arabia, similar to what xAI is doing.

SoftBank has invested or committed over $32 billion to OpenAI, primarily from a financing round earlier this year. To invest more, SoftBank's Masayoshi Son may need to sell shares in publicly listed companies or hope for some private investment firms to go public

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