According to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, OpenAI is negotiating a new round of financing, and two technology giants, Apple and Nvidia, are both interested in investing in the artificial intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI.
The investment will be part of a new round of funding for OpenAI that will value the ChatGPT maker at more than $100 billion, according to reports. OpenAI plans to raise billions of dollars, with venture capital firm Thrive Capital leading the round with an investment of $1 billion, sources said. In addition, Microsoft, OpenAI's largest shareholder, will also participate in the round.
People familiar with the matter said Apple is in talks to invest in OpenAI, and Nvidia has discussed joining OpenAI's latest financing. It is reported that Nvidia is negotiating to invest $100 million in OpenAI's new round of financing. Although it is not clear how much Apple and Microsoft plan to invest, if the negotiations are successful, it means that the world's three most valuable technology companies will become shareholders of OpenAI.
Sarah Friar, OpenAI's chief financial officer, said in a memo on Wednesday that the company is seeking new financing, but did not disclose specific details. Friar said OpenAI will use the financing to obtain more computing power and fund other operating expenses.
It is reported that with the rise of the artificial intelligence AI wave, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia have also begun to accelerate their investment and layout in the field of artificial intelligence.
Among them, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and owns 49% of the latter's shares; Apple launched the Apple Intelligence system at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, and officially announced its partnership with OpenAI; as for the AI leader Nvidia, it has not only been working closely with OpenAI for a long time, but has also been quite active in investing in this field. Since 2023, its investment department NVentures has invested in a number of AI companies.