OpenAI Eyes Biggest US IPO in History Thanks to Nvidia and Amazon

OpenAI on Thursday confirmed a $110 billion valuation, fueling expectations that it could stage the largest IPO in US tech history if it moves forward with a public listing.

The company has not yet filed for an IPO. However, the valuation announced on February 27 positions OpenAI above several landmark Silicon Valley debuts and signals strong backing from major technology investors.

Who are the Big Tech Going All-In on OpenAI?

OpenAI has raised billions in private funding over the past few years. Its most significant backer remains Microsoft, which committed multi-year investments reportedly totaling around $13 billion through structured equity and cloud partnerships.

The new funding includes $30 billion from SoftBank, $30 billion from NVIDIA, and $50 billion from Amazon. Additional financial investors are expected to join as the round progresses.

Other major investors include Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. These firms participated in earlier funding rounds as OpenAI scaled ChatGPT and enterprise AI infrastructure.

OpenAI Could be the Biggest IPO in US History

If OpenAI proceeds at this valuation, it would rank among the largest US tech IPOs ever. The scale of this funding dwarfs most historic IPO valuations. 

For comparison, Meta Platforms (Facebook) went public in 2012 at about $104 billion. Snowflake debuted in 2020 at roughly $70 billion. Alibaba Group was listed at around $168 billion in 2014. 

Globally, Saudi Aramco still holds the overall IPO record at $1.7 trillion.

At a $730 billion valuation, OpenAI now stands in a different category.

If it proceeds to a public offering, it would likely rank as the largest US tech IPO ever, reflecting the scale of investor conviction behind frontier AI.

The company has not disclosed a potential listing date or share price range. Those details would emerge in a formal IPO filing.