SoftBank May Invest Up To $25B Into OpenAI

Just about a week after the White House announced its new AI Stargate Project, two of the venture’s biggest names may become even closer partners.

SoftBank reportedly is looking to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion into OpenAI, the ChatGPT creator.

While SoftBank would be OpenAI’s largest investor in terms of dollars, Microsoft would still have a larger stake since it invested what is believed to be about $14 billion earlier.

The new investment would come after OpenAI reportedly committed $19 billion to the new Stargate Project, an initiative that is anticipated to help build out $100 billion to $500 billion in AI datacenters and infrastructure.

Others involved in Stargate include Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX.

Big cash

Just last October, OpenAI locked up a $6.6 billion raise at a post-money valuation of $157 billion led by Thrive Capital. The round made the AI giant one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

That money is in addition to Microsoft’s massive investment from January 2023.

The news of the potential SoftBank deal comes just days after OpenAI and the entire AI world was thrown for a loop as the Chinese AI app DeepSeek sent shock waves through the industry.

DeepSeek, birthed by a China-based hedge fund, claims to have created AI models that rival even those of OpenAI — but at much lower cost and using less energy.