OpenAI is sounding out Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon for close to $40bn as part of a supposedly blockbuster $100bn funding round.
Nvidia is being lined up for as much as $20bn, while Amazon has said it will invest $10bn or more, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Microsoft, which already owns a 27 per cent stake in OpenAI, is also in the mix for several billion dollars more.
The OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, outfit is chasing as much as $100bn at a $750bn valuation to bankroll expansion, which means hoovering up eye-wateringly expensive data centre capacity.
Having the same tech giants fund the round and sell the chips and racks OpenAI needs to train and run models is likely to crank up analyst grumbling about circular financial arrangements at a loss-making start-up.
Altman is said to be close to securing another $30bn from SoftBank, with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son doubling down on the AI hype machine.
OpenAI has also been in discussions with sovereign wealth investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and MGX.
People familiar with the talks cautioned that it is not clear every party will stump up cash, or that OpenAI will hit the full $100bn target.
Nvidia last year struck a multiyear deal with OpenAI to invest $100bn in $10bn increments as tranches of data centre capacity came online, although the agreement still has not been sealed.
A $20bn cheque in this new round could sit alongside that $100bn plan, or force the two sides to fiddle with the terms.
OpenAI also has a $38bn, seven-year deal with Amazon to use its AWS cloud infrastructure, and any fresh investment could be folded into a wider arrangement for access to OpenAI’s technology.
Microsoft was one of OpenAI’s early backers and remains the largest shareholder in its for-profit business after the pair reworked their relationship last year, which is handy when you are passing the hat round again.
