OpenAI raises $6.6 billion from Microsoft and NVIDIA, pushing its market cap to $157 billion — with "the world's dominant AI company worth trillions of dollars" and $11.6 billion in sales vision on the horizon

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OpenAI is over the bankruptcy hump after raising $6.6 billion in its latest funding round from investors and now aspires to make $11.6 billion in sales next year.

Sam Altman
(Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What you need to know

  • OpenAI recently closed its round of funding having raised $6.6 billion from investors, including Microsoft and NVIDIA, pushing its market valuation to $157 billion.
  • The ChatGPT maker burns through money fast on training its AI models and is expected to make $5 billion in losses within the next few months.
  • The AI firm projects to make $11.6 billion in sales next year, a significant feat from its current $3.7 billion in revenue which could indicate subscription price revisions for its next-gen AI models. 

Earlier this year, OpenAI was reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy with projections of making a $5 billion loss within the next 12 months. Experts and OpenAI insiders disclosed that the issue could be attributed to the ChatGPT maker burning through money fast, including $7 billion in training its AI models and an additional $1.5 billion in staffing. However, OpenAI's $3.7 billion revenue doesn't meet the highlighted operational costs.

Market analysts predicted that the AI firm was in dire need of cash flow, and another round of funding from investors was its only option. Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple were rumored to be among the investors to participate in OpenAI's latest funding round, pushing its market cap well beyond $150 billion. However, Apple dropped out of the exercise at the eleventh hour for unclear reasons as OpenAI was about to close the funding round.

And now, OpenAI has officially closed its funding round with a $157 billion market capitalization after raising $6.6 billion from many big tech corporations, including Microsoft, NVIDIA, SoftBank, and more (via CNBC).

According to OpenAI:

“The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems.” 

As you may know, OpenAI generated $300 million in revenue in September 2024, translating to a whopping 1,700% increase since the beginning of 2023. The ChatGPT maker projects making $11.6 billion in sales next year, an ambitious feat from its current $3.7 billion in revenue. This is amid claims that OpenAI might hike the price of its products and services, including increasing the subscription price to $2,000 per month for access to its next-gen AI models.

Bankruptcy is just the tip of the iceberg for OpenAI

OpenAI logo displayed on a laptop screen and ChatGPT on AppStore displayed on a phone screen (Image credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto)

While bankruptcy could potentially cripple OpenAI's operations, we recently learned that top execs at the firm expressed their fear of the company collapsing. Its Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever departed from the company to focus on a "personally meaningful" project amid company restructures, offering some revelations along the way. 

RELATED: Investors claim OpenAI is 'uniquely' positioned to become the world's dominant AI company worth trillions of dollars ahead of Microsoft and Apple

The company reportedly struggled to identify a suitable position for Sutskever amid the restructures, making it harder for him to return to work. The Chief Scientist has since launched a safe superintelligence-focused AI firm dubbed Superintelligence Inc., which recently raised $1 billion in funding from investors to support the cause. 

OpenAI has lost multiple of its high-profile execs and staffers following the OpenAI fiasco that led to CEO Sam Altman's bizarre firing and rehiring by the board of directors, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, and Vice President of Research Barret Zoph.

RELATED: Everything new Microsoft announced for Copilot+ AI 

Elsewhere, the ChatGPT maker is facing copyright-infringement lawsuits though Altman argues copyright law doesn't prohibit using copyrighted content to train AI models. However, the CEO admitted developing tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted content is impossible.  

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Kevin Okemwa
Kevin Okemwa
Contributor

Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You'll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.

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1 Comment Comment from the forums
  • fjtorres5591
    So, just like any other *american* tech start-up?
    Unlike europe, the US still has a deep venture capital pool. These kinds of deals are routine. Just look at EV and semiconductor fab deals. Or New Space or private fusion. Big profits need big investments.

    Six billion from MS alone would be like 1% of annual net profits looking for a few billion a year in return? Whatever they put in this time is less, so what's the big deal?
    Sofa cushion money.
    They probably will get more back from AZURE alone.
    Reply