OpenAI is in early talks to raise a new funding round that could total at least $50 billion, as CEO Sam Altman courts investors in the Middle East to finance the next phase of the company’s AI infrastructure buildout, per reporting from Bloomberg.
According to people familiar with the discussions, Altman has recently visited the region and met with senior figures at state-backed investment funds in Abu Dhabi. The talks are preliminary, but OpenAI is said to be exploring a raise of $50 billion or more at a valuation in the range of $750 billion to $830 billion.
The proposed round would represent one of the largest private capital raises in technology history and reflects the escalating cost of building frontier AI systems. OpenAI has already committed to spending more than $1.4 trillion on AI infrastructure over the coming years, spanning advanced chips, data centres, and talent, as competition among leading AI labs intensifies.
OpenAI has previously raised capital from MGX and partnered with G42 on the development of large-scale data centre infrastructure in the UAE. The company has also held discussions with Amazon about a potential $10 billion investment, according to earlier reports.
The renewed fundraising push comes as Middle Eastern sovereign and quasi-sovereign investors increasingly position themselves as critical capital providers to frontier AI companies. Rivals including Anthropic and xAI have also turned to the region to support their capital-intensive growth strategies. Anthropic is reportedly in talks to raise a new round at a valuation of around $350 billion.
Despite remaining the most recognisable name in generative AI, OpenAI faces growing competition from Alphabet-owned Google and a fast-moving field of well-capitalised challengers. The company was most recently valued at $500 billion in late 2025 in a secondary transaction that allowed some employees to sell shares.
