OpenAI is currently negotiating a funding round that could secure up to $100 billion, potentially valuing the creator of ChatGPT at as much as $830 billion, according to a Thursday report from the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources. The company aims to complete this fundraising effort by the end of the first quarter next year and is considering inviting sovereign wealth funds to participate.

Earlier reports indicated the deal could result in a valuation of around $750 billion. This substantial capital infusion comes as OpenAI plans to invest trillions of dollars globally in an effort to maintain its leadership in the competitive artificial intelligence sector.

The funding would support the company's significant spending on AI inference operations, which appear to rely more on direct cash than cloud credits—a sign that its computing expenses have surpassed what partnerships alone can cover. With increasing competition from firms like Anthropic and Google, OpenAI is accelerating the release of new models and expanding its reach within developer and tooling ecosystems.

At the same time, overall enthusiasm for AI investments has recently tempered as questions arise about whether the current pace of debt-driven spending by major players, including Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and OpenAI itself, can be sustained. Compounding these challenges are memory chip shortages that are constraining semiconductor production, posing a risk to the broader technology industry.

Rumors also suggest OpenAI is exploring an initial public offering to raise tens of billions of dollars, supporting development initiatives that are reportedly generating annual revenue of approximately $20 billion. Additional speculation points to discussions with Amazon regarding a potential $10 billion investment, which would grant OpenAI access to the tech giant's new AI computing chips.

Should this funding round proceed, it would significantly boost OpenAI's financial reserves, which currently exceed $64 billion according to PitchBook data. The company was most recently valued at about $500 billion in a secondary transaction. OpenAI has not yet responded to requests for comment.