SoftBank Eyes $15B-$25B Investment to Become OpenAI's Biggest Backer

ChatGPT's creator, OpenAI, is looking to raise US$40 billion in a new round of fundraising, which would put the startup's valuation at an incredible US$340 billion. The largest financial backer of the ChatGPT maker, SoftBank of Japan, is spearheading the financing round and is negotiating an investment of $15 billion to $25 billion. According to the sources.

The claims followed a shock to markets last week when Chinese startup DeepSeek caused a stir with a potent new chatbot that was created at a fraction of the price of its US rivals. Only three months have passed since OpenAI concluded its last round of fundraising, which valued the business at US$157 billion.

In Silicon Valley history, its price would have doubled, indicating the enormous sums required to create world-class AI models from the ground up, much of which would require state-of-the-art infrastructure and processing. President Donald Trump of the United States launched the Stargate initiative, which includes SoftBank and OpenAI, to spend up to US$500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country.

In the 1990s, the business, which was started by Japanese businessman Masayoshi Son, made wildly profitable early investments in Yahoo! and Alibaba, but some of its other ventures have failed. SoftBank's investment in chip designer Arm has aided Son, a Trump early supporter, in his efforts to shift into artificial intelligence. Son has secured substantial money from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and other sources.