OpenAI’s $40B Raise Hints at a Bigger Agenda… And the Foundation’s Already Being Built

Institutional investors have finally done something wild… started using calculators again. After two years of throwing money at anything with “AI” in the name, they’ve apparently remembered what a price-to-earnings ratio is. Probably because tech stocks are deep in the red (Nasdaq posted the worst quarter in 3 years) and AI-themed ETFs aren’t exactly doing great either. BOTZ, one of the top AI funds, is already down 11% this year.

But while everyone else is having to face the music, OpenAI is living in a different universe entirely (one where math doesn’t matter). For instance, Sam “I don’t care about money” Altman has reportedly locked down the biggest private funding round in tech history. The company announced it raised $40 billion, led by SoftBank, valuing OpenAI at $300 billion (putting it in the same rarefied air as ByteDance and just behind SpaceX).

For context, the previous record for a private raise was Ant Group’s $14 billion in 2018. Juul (yes, the vape company) came in second with $12.8 billion. But OpenAI blew past both of those with ease. SoftBank alone is contributing $30 billion, with the other $10 billion coming from a syndicate that includes Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive. The money is earmarked for a number of projects, including building out “Stargate,” a $500 billion mega-data-center initiative backed by Oracle, SoftBank, and the UAE.

Of course, there's a catch. The full $40 billion isn’t guaranteed. If OpenAI doesn’t formally restructure into a for-profit entity by December 31, SoftBank could pull back up to $20 billion of its commitment. That’s a huge deal, because right now OpenAI operates under one of the weirdest business structures in Silicon Valley… it’s technically a nonprofit, but also a capped-profit partnership, where the nonprofit board still has final say. To make the conversion happen, OpenAI needs a green light from Microsoft (who’s already invested over $10 billion) and California’s attorney general. Oh, and did we mention Elon Musk is suing them over how the whole thing is governed?

So what’s all this money buying, anyway? Turns out, quite a bit. OpenAI says ChatGPT now has 500 million weekly users, up from 400 million just last month. Altman even bragged on X that they gained one million users in a single hour. Revenue is projected to reach $12.7 billion this year, a massive jump from last year’s $3.7 billion. But even with that growth, the company doesn’t expect to turn cash-flow positive until 2029.

In the meantime, OpenAI is still pumping out new products. GPT-5 is on the way. They just announced their first “open-weight” model since GPT-2…  kind of a half-open, half-secret approach to AI that gives developers enough to play with, without fully letting competitors peek under the hood. Altman has shifted his role to focus on product and long-term research while COO Brad Lightcap handles day-to-day ops. It’s clear they’re positioning themselves as the infrastructure layer of AI… not just an app, but the foundation for whatever wild future tech wants to build.

At the end of the day, love Sam or hate him, OpenAI isn’t playing the same game as the rest of the market. While investors are suddenly demanding cash flow and sensible multiples from other AI plays, OpenAI is pitching something far bigger… a shot at building the intelligence layer of the internet, with enough GPU power to back it up. Whether or not that vision plays out remains to be seen. But for now, Sam Altman has once again secured the backing of some of the wealthiest investors on the planet.

If you’re tired of missing out on plays like this, maybe it’s time to join Stocks.News Premium. You’ll get trade alerts like this twice a week, plus our Insider Trading Tool that tracks everyone from overpaid CEOs to your favorite Congress members cashing in on their "foresight." Oh, and unlike Bloomberg, we don’t charge a small fortune for the privilege. They might have fancy terminals, but do they deliver breaking trade alerts and tools that actually move the needle? Didn’t think so. Go here to become a Stocks.News premium member now.

Stock.News has positions in Microsoft.