OpenAI has announced the successful closure of a landmark $110 billion funding round financed by heavyweights Amazon, Nvidia, and Softbank. This marks the largest private investment in corporate history.
The deal, confirmed by the artificial intelligence firm on Friday, reportedly puts it at a post-money valuation of approximately $840 billion as it transitions from a research-focused entity to a global AI infrastructure powerhouse. It is also more than double the size of OpenAI’s $40 billion raise from last year, which was a record at the time.
The round, which raised $50 billion in investment from Amazon and $30 billion each from Nvidia and Softbank, comes ahead of OpenAI’s mega-IPO launch later this year. It also boosted the startup to a pre-money valuation of $730 billion – a big leap from its $500 billion valuation in secondary financing from October 2025.
Amazon Commits $50 Billion to OpenAI for 2GW in AI Compute and AWS as Exclusive Distributor of ‘Frontier.’
Amazon (AMZN), the round’s largest contributor, has structured its investment in tranches, beginning with an initial commitment of $15 billion, followed by another $35 billion in the coming months, contingent upon OpenAI meeting specific milestones. Analysts suggest those criteria may include progress toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) or a potential initial public offering (IPO) later this year.
The partnership extends beyond capital. OpenAI revealed it has also signed a multi-year strategic agreement to utilize two gigawatts of computing capacity powered by Amazon’s in-house Trainium chips to develop customized models that will power Amazon’s customer-facing applications. Furthermore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been designated as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for ‘Frontier’ – OpenAI’s specialized platform for enterprise AI agents. The two companies are also expanding their existing cloud deal by an additional $100 billion over the next eight years.
“It’s so early right now in the AI space, and OpenAI is off to an amazing start,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told “Squawk Box” on Friday. “They’re going to be one of the very big winners, we believe, long term. I think we can help them quite a bit as part of this partnership.”
NVIDIA and SoftBank Deepen Stake in OpenAI, Investing $60 Billion to Reinforce Confidence in the AI Sector
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s (NVDA) $30 billion investment deepens a long-standing business relationship with one of its largest customers. OpenAI confirmed that it has secured 3 gigawatts of dedicated inference compute capacity and 2 gigawatts of training capacity on Nvidia’s ‘Vera Rubin’ systems
SoftBank’s (SFTBY) participation, led by founder Masayoshi Son, maintains the Japanese conglomerate’s aggressive stance on the AI sector. The investment reportedly grows SoftBank’s stake in OpenAI to approximately 13%.
To justify the historic valuation, OpenAI shared record-breaking usage data, reporting that its flagship ‘ChatGPT’ product now has more than 900 million weekly active users and surpassed 50 million paid consumer subscribers. On the corporate side, over 9 million businesses now pay for enterprise versions of the large language model (LLM). Additionally, the company’s AI-assisted coding tool, ‘Codex’, has seen its weekly user base triple since the start of the year to 1.6 million.
Microsoft Retains Exclusive Rights to OpenAI’s IP and Could Participate in Funding Round
Despite the entry of Amazon as a major infrastructure partner, OpenAI clarified its long-standing relationship with Microsoft. In a joint statement, the companies affirmed that their partnership remains “strong and central.” Microsoft Azure will continue to serve as the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI’s first-party products and its primary API platform, and Microsoft retains its exclusive license to OpenAI’s underlying intellectual property.
Industry analysts noted the “circular” nature of the financing, as much of the capital provided by Amazon and Nvidia is expected to flow back to those companies in the form of cloud credits and hardware purchases. However, the sheer scale of the round — more than double OpenAI’s previous raise twelve months ago — signals a feverish pace of investment as the company prepares for a highly anticipated IPO later in 2026.
OpenAI concluded its announcement by stating that additional institutional investors are expected to join the round as it continues to evolve, further strengthening a balance sheet intended to sustain a projected $600 billion in compute spending through the end of the decade.
