OpenAI closes a $110 billion funding round at $730 billion pre-money valuation

OpenAI said Friday it closed a $110 billion funding round. The size was more than double its raise from a year earlier, which had been a record for a private tech company.

Amazon put in $50 billion, while Nvidia and SoftBank each put in $30 billion, OpenAI said in its Friday release. The new money sets a $730 billion pre-money valuation, up from a $500 billion valuation tied to a secondary financing in October. OpenAI also said more investors may still join as the round continues.

Lock in Amazon money and expand AWS access

Amazon also announced a multiyear strategic partnership with OpenAI. The companies said they plan to build customized models that will run inside Amazon’s customer-facing applications.

OpenAI said it is growing its existing $38 billion deal with Amazon Web Services by another $100 billion over the next eight years.

AWS will also act as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI’s enterprise platform Frontier, which the company unveiled earlier this month.

The companies described how the cash arrives. Amazon’s $50 billion investment starts with $15 billion first. Then another $35 billion comes “in the coming months when certain conditions are met.”

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said, “We’re super excited about this deal.” Sam also said, “AI is going to happen everywhere.” He added that it is “transforming the whole economy,” and he said the world needs “a lot of collective computing power” to meet demand.

Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, said, “It’s so early right now in the AI space.” Andy also said, “I think we can help them quite a bit as part of this partnership.”

OpenAI said Friday the announcement does not change “in any way” the terms of its partnership with Microsoft, which has been one of its major financial backers since 2019. The companies said in a joint statement that the partnership remains “strong and central.”

Work with Defense and set red lines

OpenAI also dealt with a very different topic this week: national security use. Sam, in a message to staff Thursday evening, said the company was working on a possible deal linked to the standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon over how AI can be used on the battlefield.

In that memo, Sam said OpenAI was talking with the Defense Department about using its models in classified settings while keeping the same safety guardrails that have helped create the current stalemate for Anthropic.

Sam said he hoped OpenAI could land a solution that could work for the rest of the industry, too.

No deal is signed. Someone close to the talks said the discussions could still fall apart.

In a note to staff Thursday evening viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Sam wrote that OpenAI is pursuing a deal “that allows our models to be deployed in classified environments and that fits with our principles.” He said:-

“We would ask for the contract to cover any use except those which are unlawful or unsuited to cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous offensive weapons.”

Sam also wrote, “We would like to try to help de-escalate things.” He said he supported Anthropic’s position in principle, while also noting the government’s concerns about a private company having control over major national-security decisions.

Sam wrote, “We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-stakes automated decisions. These are our main red lines.” He also wrote, “We believe this dispute isn’t about how AI will be used, but about control.”

Sam added, “We believe that a private US company cannot be more powerful than the democratically-elected US government, although companies can have lots of input and influence. Democracy is messy, but we are committed to it.”

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