According to the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal (as reported by TechCrunch and The Decoder): OpenAI was previously reported to be raising 300 billion at a valuation of 1.4 trillion, later revised to 1.25 trillion, in preparation for a planned public listing. The FT reported on 10 30 that the target has dropped to 200 billion, with the initial closing expected to be lower, led by investors from the United Arab Emirates; a subsequent offering to high-net-worth individuals may bring the total back up to 200 billion. The WSJ states that only about 110 billion has been secured so far, with some major investors reacting "coldly."
Confidence: Low (45) · Unverified · Event date 2026-10-30
Reasoning
- This is another signal that the market is becoming cautious about massive investments in AI infrastructure: according to TechCrunch, Wall Street investors are increasingly wary of heavy spending on AI compute, leading to significant sell-offs in tech stocks; meanwhile, emerging cloud providers are relying on Nvidia guarantees to secure financing.
- According to The Decoder, OpenAI plans to go public early next year, while competitor Anthropic could go public as early as 11; the fundraising and listing timelines of both companies will influence their compute contracts and pricing strategies.
Usage
- None. The original reports are in the FT and WSJ (paywalled).
Risks
- All information is "according to reports," and OpenAI did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment; the original FT and WSJ articles are paywalled, and the editors did not read them.
- Figures vary across sources: TechCrunch reports the target has dropped to 200 billion, while The Decoder states "only 110 billion was raised against a 300 billion target," with a valuation of 1.25 trillion falling short of the expected 1.4 trillion.