OpenAI Global, LLC, a United States-based artificial intelligence (AI) research and development company, has announced a new funding of $40 billion led by Softbank at a post-money valuation of $300 billion.

OpenAI said in a statement on Monday that the funding enables the firm to push the frontiers of AI research even further, scale its compute infrastructure, and deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week.

“We’re excited to be working in partnership with SoftBank Group — few companies understand how to scale transformative technology like they do,

“Their support will help us continue building AI systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education, enhance human creativity, and pave the way toward AGI that benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI said.

In a separate statement, Softbank said it had entered into a definitive agreement with OpenAI and its affiliates to make follow-on investments of up to $40 billion.

Softbank is planning to syndicate out $10 billion of the up to $40 billion investment to co-investors.

Accordingly, the bank’s effective investment amount is expected to be up to $30 billion.

Softbank noted that its financial policies regarding loan-to-value (LTV) and cash position remain unchanged.

With the center of the “information revolution” having evolved from personal computers, the Internet, and broadband to smartphones, Softbank opined that it has now entered a new phase led by AI.

In this context, the bank has declared its mission to realize artificial super intelligence (ASI) for the advancement of humanity.

Recognizing OpenAI as the partner closest to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), Softbank said a key milestone on the path to ASI, and its mission of ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity.

The bank has positioned OpenAI as its most important partner and invested $2.2 billion in total through SoftBank Vision Fund 2 since September 2024.

According to the statement, the advancement of OpenAI’s AI models is key to achieving AGI and ASI, and massive computing power is essential.

To that end, Softbank has announced the “Stargate Project” together with OpenAI on January 21, 2025, to build dedicated AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.

In alignment with this initiative, and to both further support OpenAI’s growth and capture the benefits of that growth in Softbank’s net asset value (NAV), the bank has decided to make follow-on investments in OpenAI.

As part of the transaction, the payment of $10 billion to OpenAI Global scheduled for April 2025 is expected to be financed through borrowings from Mizuho Bank, Ltd., among other financial institutions.

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