OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise up to $60 billion in a new OpenAI funding round, with Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft exploring major investments. The same report says Nvidia could lead with a potential $30 billion commitment, while Microsoft and Amazon are also said to be considering multi-billion-dollar bets.
The funding talks are unfolding as OpenAI looks for more ways to support the heavy costs of running and expanding its AI systems, including computing power and data centers. Separately, one tech-industry watchlist article says the AI race is pushing top companies toward bigger capital raises and, in some cases, possible IPO plans as private funding alone may not be enough.
What the reported $60 billion talks include
The report cited by The Information says the combined investment being discussed could reach up to $60 billion. It says Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $30 billion, and it describes Nvidia as an existing close partner whose chips have powered OpenAI models.
The same report says Microsoft has reportedly committed to invest up to $10 billion, while Amazon is said to be in talks to invest more than $10 billion or $20 billion. It also says OpenAI is close to receiving term sheets, described as investment commitments, from the three companies.
Amazon’s talks may involve cloud and sales deals
Beyond the headline investment figures, the report says Amazon’s potential investment could be tied to negotiations that go beyond a straight cash infusion. It says discussions include a possible expansion of OpenAI’s cloud server rental arrangement with Amazon, alongside a broader commercial deal.
The same report adds that the arrangement could involve OpenAI selling products such as enterprise ChatGPT subscriptions through Amazon, linking funding to longer-term cloud usage and distribution rather than only an equity stake. It notes that official confirmation has not yet arrived.
OpenAI highlights API growth as it looks past subscriptions
In a separate development, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company added more than $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in the past month “just from our API business,” according to a post he made on X. The report says OpenAI’s API lets companies and developers embed OpenAI models into their own products, including internal productivity software and coding tools.
The same report says OpenAI is looking beyond consumer subscriptions as it faces “soaring compute costs,” and it notes the company said it is gearing up to test ads inside ChatGPT. It also reports comments from OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar about “licensing models” so OpenAI could share in downstream sales when customer products succeed, with an example tied to drug discovery.
Financing pressure and IPO speculation remains part of the story
One commentary article says International Financial Review (IFR) spoke to investment banks that asked not to be identified and described OpenAI as facing a cash crunch by the end of 2026. The same piece says bank projections estimate more than $80 billion of deferred commitments are set to come due in 2026, including some linked to a deal described as a commitment to purchase $250 billion of compute from Microsoft.
That commentary also claims OpenAI is “mumbling about” an initial public offering and says the company would like $100 billion from an IPO, adding that “strong rumours” suggest OpenAI wants to go public in 2026. It also quotes a statement it attributes to OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, saying an IPO is “definitely not off the table” and describing it as “another fundraise,” while adding that private markets have been open to fundraising so far.
A separate IPO watchlist article says OpenAI has not announced concrete IPO plans, while also reporting that sources have said it “could happen in late-2026 or 2027.” The same article also says OpenAI hired Sarah Friar as CFO and describes her as a veteran finance executive who was instrumental in taking Square and NextDoor public.
Anthropic’s forecasts show how big the AI money race has become
The funding push is not limited to OpenAI, as another AI startup is also being linked to fast-growing projections. A report published by The Economic Times says Anthropic has raised its revenue forecasts for the next several years, projecting sales to quadruple in 2026 to as much as $18 billion and to reach $55 billion in 2027, citing The Information.
That same Economic Times report says Reuters could not immediately verify The Information’s figures. Even so, the projections underscore how quickly leading AI labs are pitching growth—and how much capital the wider industry is trying to line up to fund that growth.
