OpenAI has raised $110 billion in fresh funding from Amazon, SoftBank and Nvidia, marking one of the largest capital injections in technology history and valuing the artificial intelligence company at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion.
Amazon is leading the round with a commitment of $50 billion, followed by $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank, OpenAI co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman said on Friday.
The funding underscores intensifying competition among major technology groups to secure influence over advanced AI infrastructure and large-scale model deployment.
Amazon takes the lead
Amazon will initially invest $15 billion, with the remaining $35 billion to be deployed under pre-agreed conditions in the coming months, Altman said.
The partnership expands Amazon Web Services’ role in OpenAI’s computing backbone. As part of the deal, AWS will serve as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier, the company’s enterprise-focused AI platform.
OpenAI and Amazon will also broaden their existing multiyear agreement, expanding a previously announced $38 billion infrastructure arrangement into a deal worth up to $100 billion over eight years. The companies plan to collaborate on customised AI models for Amazon developers and enterprise customers.
Altman said the new capital would strengthen OpenAI’s infrastructure capacity and global reach.
“These partnerships expand our global reach, deepen our infrastructure and strengthen our balance sheet,” he said, adding that scaling computing resources would be central to meeting surging demand.
Nvidia and SoftBank deepen AI bets
Nvidia, whose chips power much of the global AI ecosystem, committed $30 billion as part of the round. The move reinforces its position not only as a supplier of AI hardware but also as a direct financial backer of leading AI developers.
SoftBank’s $30 billion pledge signals renewed appetite for large-scale technology investments following a more cautious period after heavy losses in its Vision Fund portfolio earlier in the decade.
The scale of the funding reflects escalating capital requirements in the AI race, where computing infrastructure, data centre expansion and model training costs continue to rise sharply.
Rapid user growth
Altman said ChatGPT now has more than 900 million weekly active users and more than 50 million paying consumer subscribers, highlighting the rapid mainstream adoption of generative AI tools.
“We are entering a new phase where frontier AI moves from research into daily use at global scale,” Altman said, arguing that leadership in the sector will hinge on infrastructure scale and product integration.
Industry analysts have noted that AI companies are increasingly judged not only by research breakthroughs but by their ability to convert model capacity into widely used applications.
Microsoft partnership unchanged
OpenAI stressed that its long-standing partnership with Microsoft, which began in 2019, remains intact.
In a statement, the company said the new funding and strategic partnerships do not alter the terms of its agreement with Microsoft. “The partnership remains strong and central,” OpenAI said.
Microsoft has been a key cloud and technology partner, integrating OpenAI’s models across its enterprise and consumer products, including Azure and productivity software.
Infrastructure arms race
The latest funding round highlights the scale of capital required to sustain development of frontier AI systems. Training advanced models demands vast computing power and energy resources, fuelling what industry executives describe as an infrastructure arms race.
Technology groups are increasingly tying equity investments to cloud and chip supply agreements, ensuring alignment between AI developers and the platforms that power them.
With a pre-money valuation of $730 billion, OpenAI now stands among the world’s most highly valued private companies. The company said additional investors may join as the funding round progresses.
The immediate focus will be on expanding compute capacity, strengthening enterprise distribution and accelerating product deployment — areas that could define the next phase of global AI competition.