surprisetalkMar 31

OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

https://openai.com/index/accelerating-the-next-phase-ai

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/31/openai-funding-round-ipo.html

OpenAI raises $122 billion to accelerate the next phase of AI

OpenAI raises $122 billion in new funding to expand frontier AI globally, invest in next-generation compute, and meet growing demand for ChatGPT, Codex, and enterprise AI.

Show threadalyxya

> Today, we closed our latest funding round with $122 billion in committed capital at a post money valuation of $852 billion.

A couple things that stand out to me about this is the use of the phrase "committed capital", which only sounds like a promise that could break from various circumstances, and the valuation of their funding keeps changing so it sounds like a max rather than the valuation every investor invested at.

Mar 31 at 8:40pmWeb
Show threadsnorenMar 31
good catch! committed capital is not same as we raised.
Show threadta988Mar 31
that's why they have to open through banks and other less valuable more sliced share system.
Show threadstrongpigeonMar 31
I do wonder how much of Amazon's $50B share (per last press release) is in AWS credits rather than money in the bank.
Show threaddheeraMar 31
Probably a lot? It would be much more tax-advantageous to do it this way, $50B worth of credits != $50B worth of spend on Amazon's part, and they might meet in the middle about how much equity that translates to.
Show threadcmiles8Mar 31
To then claim that Trainium is “selling” and not a dud? I’d bet a lot.
Show threadAurornisMar 31

That’s typical. Large funding rounds usually aren’t delivered as one single giant lump sum into the bank account. The capital is committed in stages that can depend on hitting milestones or goals.

This is done even in smaller startup funding rounds some times.

Show threadalyxyaMar 31
Fair, I think a lot of what I've been perceiving is the gymnastics in how funding and valuation and deals get reported. There ends up being a ton of asterisks that makes the headline news deviate quite significantly from reality, e.g. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/02/five-...
Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI deal has seemingly vanished

Two AI giants shake market confidence after investment fails to materialize.

Ars Technica
Show threadwhiplash451Mar 31
It makes sense for such a huge amount to be "committed", not sitting idle in a bank somewhere.