Sam Altmann, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, participates in a panel discussion on artificial intelligence at the Technical University of Berlin on February 7, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.
Axel Schmidt | Reuters
OpenAI is in talks with a Middle East sovereign wealth fund to secure investment in a new multibillion-dollar funding round, CNBC confirmed Wednesday.
The total value of the round is expected to be about $50 billion, but the numbers are subject to change and no term sheet has been signed, said a person familiar with the discussions, who requested anonymity because the details are confidential. Bloomberg first reported the discussion.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in the United Arab Emirates to participate in investment talks, a person familiar with the matter said. The round is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
OpenAI sparked the AI boom in 2022 with the launch of its artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT and has since become one of the fastest-growing commercial entities on the planet. The company has raised billions of dollars from investors as it scales and develops new models and rolls out new features.
Last year, OpenAI completed a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank, the largest private technology funding round in history. In addition to core investor Microsoft, the round also included participation from Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive.
OpenAI also completed a $6.6 billion stock sale in October, increasing its valuation to $500 billion.
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