O SoftBank It is in conversations to lead a financing round of up to 40 billion dollars in the artificial intelligence developer Openaiin a $ 300 billion rating, including the new funds, sources said, in what may be a record round for a private company.
The investment occurs in the wake of the rise of Chinese startup, which attracted worldwide attention by launching a low -cost AI model and challenging expectations about the costs needed to develop and implement technology.
Still, softbank has valued the Chatgpt manufacturer at $ 260 billion before the investment round, over 150 billion a few months ago, the sources told the sources Reuters.
Funding should come in convertible notes and, similar to OpenAi’s latest round, is conditioned on OpenAi’s business restructuring to remove company control over its non -profit arm.
Leading OpenAi’s financing round would mean a bold bet for Softbank, the global technology investor and its executive president, Masayoshi Son, whose group has about $ 30 billion in cash to land, according to documents.
OpenAi and Softbank refused to comment. THE Wall Street Journal On Thursday (30) reported on a round of investments to raise nearly $ 40 billion that would evaluate the startup of up to $ 340 billion.
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Softbank could invest from $ 15 billion to $ 25 billion directly on OpenAi, supported by Microsoft (MSFT), and part of that could be used to pay OpenAi’s commitment to Stargate, added one of the sources.
A, one joint venture Between Oracle, OpenAi and Softbank, it plans to invest up to $ 500 billion to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the AI global race.
Softbank’s investment would add to $ 15 billion already committed to Stargate, the source said, adding that negotiations are at an early stage.
