OpenAI secures $110 billion in fresh funding at an $840 billion valuation, deepening alliances with Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia ahead of a highly anticipated IPO.
 |
| With Amazon Web Services securing exclusive rights to OpenAI Frontier and Microsoft retaining Azure dominance over APIs, the record-setting round signals a new phase in the global AI arms race. Image: CH |
Tech Desk — February 28, 2026:
OpenAI has raised an extraordinary $110 billion in a landmark private funding round that values the ChatGPT maker at $840 billion, marking one of the largest capital injections in technology history and signaling a dramatic escalation in the global AI race.
The financing package includes $30 billion each from SoftBank and Nvidia, alongside a $50 billion commitment from Amazon. Amazon will initially invest $15 billion, with the remaining $35 billion contingent upon certain performance and strategic conditions.
The deal arrives ahead of OpenAI’s anticipated mega-IPO later this year and positions the San Francisco-based company among the most valuable private firms globally—approaching the upper ranks of publicly traded technology titans.
At the heart of the agreement is infrastructure. OpenAI will secure 2 gigawatts of computing capacity powered by Amazon’s proprietary Trainium chips—an enormous allocation that reflects the soaring energy and compute demands of generative AI systems.
Under the arrangement, Amazon Web Services (AWS) becomes the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier, the company’s enterprise platform for building and managing AI agents. The move strengthens Amazon’s foothold in enterprise AI while advancing its ambitions to compete more aggressively in AI-optimized cloud hardware.
For Amazon, headquartered in Seattle, the partnership is as much about silicon as software. Locking in OpenAI workloads could accelerate adoption of its in-house chips, positioning AWS as a credible challenger in AI infrastructure against established GPU providers.
Despite Amazon’s expanded role, OpenAI’s long-standing partnership with Microsoft remains firmly in place. Microsoft Azure continues as the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI’s APIs, which power integrations for developers worldwide.
OpenAI’s first-party applications will continue running on Azure infrastructure, and Microsoft retains exclusive licensing rights and intellectual property access across OpenAI’s models and products. The dual-cloud strategy reflects a careful balancing act—diversifying compute partnerships while safeguarding a critical commercial alliance.
For Nvidia, the $30 billion investment further entwines the semiconductor leader with one of the world’s most influential AI developers. The funding reinforces Nvidia’s strategic interest in ensuring continued demand for advanced AI chips, even as cloud providers push proprietary alternatives.
However, it remains unclear whether this commitment supplements or replaces Nvidia’s previously announced pledge—made in September—to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI. The ambiguity highlights the complexity and scale of capital flows now reshaping the AI ecosystem.
The round reflects intensifying competition across North America and Asia, as major investors and technology firms scramble to secure long-term positions in artificial intelligence. From Tokyo to Seattle and Silicon Valley, AI infrastructure—data centers, chips and cloud capacity—has become a geopolitical and economic priority.
OpenAI has been aggressively expanding its data center footprint to meet surging demand for generative AI tools across industries. The pledged 2 gigawatts of compute capacity alone underscores how AI’s growth trajectory is increasingly tied to energy supply, semiconductor innovation and global supply chains.
At an $840 billion valuation, OpenAI now sits at the epicenter of the AI economy. Whether the forthcoming IPO cements its dominance—or exposes the volatility inherent in such rapid capital expansion—will test investor confidence in one of the most transformative technologies of the 21st century.
For now, the funding round signals a defining shift: artificial intelligence is no longer an experimental frontier. It is the strategic core of Big Tech’s next decade—and the world’s capital markets are racing to keep pace.