OpenAI is moving quickly to lock in fresh investment before rival Anthropic makes its Wall Street debut in mid-November. The accelerated effort could push the ChatGPT maker’s valuation past $1.4 trillion, according to people familiar with the deal, setting up a rare, head-to-head race for cash between tech’s two biggest artificial intelligence labs.
The new funding round aims to raise about $30 billion. Big-name players like SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX are already in talks to join. OpenAI spent last week pitching long-term investment funds and sovereign wealth funds, scheduling its meetings at the same time Anthropic was holding an investor showcase.
The rush comes down to timing. Large institutional funds have deep pockets, but their appetite for massive AI bets is not limitless. By moving now, OpenAI hopes to secure commitments before that money gets tied up in Anthropic’s public offering. The cash would also help OpenAI cover the steep electricity and chip bills needed to train frontier models, while keeping its balance sheet strong ahead of its own planned stock market listing in 2027.
Two Fast-Growing Rivals, Two Different Books
To win over backers, OpenAI is leaning on the momentum of its GPT-6 Astra launch. The company told investors it is generating $50 billion in annualized revenue, with internal targets pointing toward $70 billion by the end of the year. It has also lowered prices for entry-level models to draw in more everyday users and businesses, signaling to Wall Street that it can keep driving down costs to stay competitive.
Anthropic is posting its own strong numbers, pulling in $16.8 billion in revenue during the third quarter, up from $11.6 billion in the second. Yet signs of cooling month-to-month momentum have made some investors cautious. While Anthropic had hoped to hit a $2 trillion valuation on the public market, several key backers are now pushing for a figure closer to $1.5 trillion.
Timing matters for another reason: Anthropic’s upcoming regulatory filings will force it to show its full financial hand. Once those balance sheets are available, analysts will inevitably compare the two startups side by side.
The disclosures could also turn the spotlight on how each lab counts its money. OpenAI tallies revenue on a net basis, taking out the cuts paid to cloud partners upfront. Anthropic records the total gross value of deals sold through third-party platforms, an approach it defends as standard industry accounting. Locking in a valuation now allows OpenAI to set its terms without getting tangled in comparisons.
Market Jitters and the Cost of Compute
The dash for capital is happening against a backdrop of wider market anxiety. For months, investors have cheered rapid breakthroughs, but skepticism is mounting over the sheer volume of debt required to build and run massive data centers.
That worry hit home recently when specialized cloud operator CoreWeave saw its shares and debt slide, driven by investor concern over roughly $50 billion in borrowings used to fund its server buildout. Chip stocks have also felt the squeeze, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping $1.6 trillion in value over just two weeks.
With bond yields shifting and tech markets swinging, several high-profile companies have hit pause on their public offerings. Whether raising private billions or debuting on a public exchange, both OpenAI and Anthropic are testing how much risk major investors are willing to take on the future of AI.
