OpenAI is in talks to raise at least $30 billion in new funding at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, in a round intended to carry the ChatGPT maker until it goes public. TechCrunch and Reuters followed the report. OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment from either outlet.

What Happened

According to Bloomberg's account as summarized by Reuters, the $1.4 trillion figure does not include the money being raised, meaning it is a pre-money valuation. The financing is described as bridge capital that would stand in for an initial public offering for now.

The discussions are at an early stage and the terms could change, the report said. Demand is being led by investors approaching the company rather than by OpenAI marketing a deal, and no prospective backers were identified.

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The target is a steep step up from OpenAI's last raise. The round it closed in March drew $122 billion in commitments at an $852 billion valuation, TechCrunch noted. A $1.4 trillion price would be roughly 1.6 times that level, reached in about six months, while the new check would be about a quarter of the size of the March round.

Reuters, citing the Bloomberg report, said OpenAI's annualized revenue run rate is nearing $70 billion, having climbed more than 70% since the start of the third quarter. TechCrunch linked part of that growth to OpenAI's decision to concentrate more of its product effort on coding tools.

Why It Matters

The round shows how OpenAI intends to keep financing its growth without a listing. Chief Executive Sam Altman has said the company will not go public in 2026, and TechCrunch reported that 2027 is now the expected timeline. A bridge of at least $30 billion would give OpenAI more runway while that decision is pushed out.

Altman has tied the delay to AI safety concerns. TechCrunch pointed to a Fortune interview in which he said that tolerating something like a 10% chance of AI killing everyone by the end of the decade would be "unacceptable." How that stance squares with raising more private money at a far higher valuation is a question investors and critics are likely to press.

The valuation also sets a new reference point for the rest of the AI sector. Private rounds at OpenAI's scale influence how investors price other model developers and the cloud and chip companies that depend on their spending.

The Anthropic Comparison

The report arrived a day after Reuters published details from Anthropic's IPO prospectus. That filing showed a net loss of about $42 billion for 2025, most of it a non-cash accounting charge, and $518 billion in future cloud, compute and infrastructure obligations. Reuters has said Anthropic's Nasdaq listing, expected after the November midterm elections, could value it above $2 trillion.

The two leading independent AI labs are now on visibly different financing paths. Anthropic is heading toward public markets and the disclosure that comes with them, while OpenAI is extending its reliance on large private rounds, which carry no public filing requirements.

What to Watch

The first signals will be which investors take the lead and whether the round closes near the reported $1.4 trillion price or is reshaped as talks progress. Any movement on OpenAI's 2027 IPO timing, and whether its revenue run rate keeps rising at its recent pace, will also shape how the deal is received. Anthropic's listing, if it proceeds after the midterms, would give public investors their first direct comparison point for a frontier AI lab.