OpenAI funding round secures pledges from Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank

OpenAI is raising US$110 billion at a US$730 billion pre-money valuation, with Amazon committing US$50 billion, Nvidia US$30 billion and SoftBank US$30 billion; Amazon will begin with an initial US$15 billion and follow with US$35 billion in coming months, and AWS will be the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier.

OpenAI announced a US$110-billion funding round at a US$730-billion pre-money valuation. The round includes a US$50-billion commitment from Amazon, US$30 billion from Nvidia and US$30 billion from SoftBank. Amazon will start with an initial US$15-billion investment and said it will provide another US$35 billion in the coming months. The companies also said AWS will be the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier. Key details: - Total new investment: US$110 billion; pre-money valuation: US$730 billion. - Amazon to commit US$50 billion, beginning with US$15 billion and followed by US$35 billion in the coming months. - SoftBank and Nvidia are each reported to contribute US$30 billion. - AWS is named the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier. - OpenAI will consume 2 gigawatts of capacity powered by Amazon's Trainium chips to support computing demand. Summary: These commitments pair large investment pledges with a cloud services agreement linking OpenAI and AWS. Amazon's initial US$15-billion payment is announced and a further US$35-billion tranche is scheduled in the coming months. Other contributions are listed from Nvidia and SoftBank. Additional operational or regulatory steps were not detailed and are undetermined at this time.