OpenAI shows clear compute and revenue scaling to soothe investor worries as company preps for IPO
Amazon's investment is rumored to be up to $50 billion, with the condition of that investment being that OpenAI uses more of its chips and cloud computing services. SoftBank is reportedly considering a $30 billion investment, while Nvidia's is said to be $20 billion, a fifth of the total $100 billion alliance made in September 2025.
Although Microsoft's name was also thrown around by Bloomberg's sources, there was no speculation on what kind of financial contribution it would make to this round of funding. All companies involved are expected to finalize their investments by the end of February.
As with other major investment deals, even the rumored news of this one sent stock prices rising. AI industry sceptics would suggest this is one more example of why the AI industry is in a bubble: Investments that haven't happened yet generate financial returns for these companies, even without any clear path to profitability.
It's been a while since any of the big AI companies have made any enormous, headline-grabbing announcements. Indeed, a lot of the meta-story surrounding AI in recent weeks has been a crisis of confidence. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was seeming wobbled by the "slop" moniker , and bubble name-calling; Nvidia's Jensen Huang specifying the details of its $100 billion partnership with OpenAI, and an increasing number of studies suggesting AI isn't helping improve productivity much , if at all.
OpenAI is even projected to run out of cash entirely by 2027 . But this week, the AI Impact Summit in India is being held, where all the major players in the industry are speaking. OpenAI's Sam Altman is there, as is Anthropic's Dario Amodei. OpenAI also released GPT 5.3 Codex, which is the first of OpenAI's deployments that marks a move away from being reliant solely upon Nvidia chips.
According to Bloomberg, sources close to the matter suggested that this is just the first phase of funding supplied by major names in the industry, with more to come. Once the major tech firms have signed on, OpenAI is reportedly looking to generate further investment from venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds, and other financial investors, leading to its eventual IPO.
Although it's not explicitly stated, the fact that OpenAI is targeting these other sources after its industry contemporaries have taken the first step feels rather deliberate.
With significant spending commitments already booked in, OpenAI is clearly looking toward how it might fulfill the titanic amount of spending. At the AI India summit, it's still making more commitments for new data center deals , expending more money it doesn't yet have, on the back of confidence generated by deals that have yet to be finalized, or in some cases even officially announced. So, despite the latest funding round, reportedly backed by some of the biggest companies in the world, OpenAI still has a long road to having enough cash to deliver on its promises.
Jon Martindale is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. For the past 20 years, he's been writing about PC components, emerging technologies, and the latest software advances. His deep and broad journalistic experience gives him unique insights into the most exciting technology trends of today and tomorrow. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-17/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jon Martindale Freelance Writer Jon Martindale is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. For the past 20 years, he's been writing about PC components, emerging technologies, and the latest software advances. His deep and broad journalistic experience gives him unique insights into the most exciting technology trends of today and tomorrow.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/openai-aims-to-secure-usd100-billion-in-latest-funding-round-reportedly-aiming-for-an-usd800-billion-valuation-parties-offering-up-cash-include-nvidia-microsoft-softbank-and-more#main
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