OpenAI’s rumored fundraising round is starting to feel less like a valuation process and more like a guessing game. In just a few days, reported numbers for the same potential raise have swung by hundreds of billions of dollars, all tied to talks around a massive funding round that could reach up to $100 billion to help cover cloud computing costs.
From $500 billion to $830 billion in one week
On Tuesday, The Information reported that Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 0.87% ) was discussing a $10 billion investment in OpenAI at a valuation north of $500 billion. By Wednesday, another report from The Information suggested OpenAI was in early talks to raise as much as $100 billion at a $750 billion valuation. Now, the Wall Street Journal says that same round could value OpenAI as high as $830 billion.
That puts the reported range for OpenAI’s valuation this week alone between $500 billion and $830 billion, a swing large enough to rival the entire market cap of most public tech companies.
What it says about the AI arms race
The rapidly shifting numbers highlight just how aggressive the AI infrastructure race has become. OpenAI is burning enormous amounts of cash on compute, and investors appear willing to entertain almost any valuation if it secures a seat at the center of the AI ecosystem. At this point, the bigger question may not be whether OpenAI raises the money, but what the reported valuation will be by next week.