OpenAI $30 billion raise eyes $1.25 trillion valuation: CNBC

Key takeaways

• OpenAI is reportedly close to raising up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, CNBC reported on October 22, 2026, citing people familiar with the talks.
• Coatue would lead the round alongside investors from the United Arab Emirates. OpenAI declined to comment, and the terms are still being negotiated.
• The headline price is about $150 billion below the roughly $1.4 trillion figure reported by Bloomberg in late September and early October.
• CNBC reported that the UAE money could be paired with a separate deal that gives OpenAI more computing capacity in the Emirates.
• The round would act as a bridge to an OpenAI IPO, while rival Anthropic appears closer to a public listing.

What the OpenAI $30 billion raise involves

The OpenAI $30 billion raise, a round of up to that amount, would value the company at $1.25 trillion before the new money, CNBC reported on October 22, 2026, citing people familiar with the talks. Coatue would lead with UAE investors; OpenAI declined to comment.

The investment firm Coatue is expected to lead the round, with investors from the UAE also taking part, CNBC reported. Coatue is not new to OpenAI. Bloomberg reported in March that Coatue was set to take part in the final tranche of OpenAI's previous round.

OpenAI declined to comment to TechCrunch. No term sheet, investor list, or company statement has been published. Crypto Briefing, citing CNBC, reported that OpenAI told investors it wants to secure signatures by the end of next week, but the final size of the round has not been decided.

Reported versus confirmed

Most of the details come from unnamed sources. This table separates what is on the record from what is reported.

Data as of October 22, 2026, 22:08 UTC, the time of the TechCrunch report.

How OpenAI's valuation has moved in 2026

The new figure is still far above OpenAI's last completed round. It is lower than the price reported only weeks ago.

On these figures, $1.25 trillion pre-money is about 47% above the $852 billion post-money valuation from March. It is about 11% below the $1.4 trillion price reported in early October. Adding the full $30 billion would put the post-money valuation near $1.28 trillion.

What changed since September

A lower headline price

TNW, summarizing Bloomberg's October report, said OpenAI had set the $1.4 trillion price itself and that "no lead investor has been chosen" at the time. The October 22 report names a lead, Coatue, at a lower price. Neither OpenAI nor the investors have explained the change. The reason for the cut has not been confirmed.

The talks come during a difficult week for AI stocks. Bullquill reported on the Nasdaq's fall on AI spending worries and on Meta's plans to fund its AI spending. No source has linked market conditions directly to the lower OpenAI price.

Who the UAE investors are

The October 22 reports do not say which UAE investors are involved. Earlier Bloomberg reporting named Abu Dhabi's MGX as the organizer of a UAE syndicate that discussed investing up to $10 billion. MGX raised almost $50 billion earlier this year and has backed both OpenAI and Anthropic, according to that reporting. Whether MGX is part of the Coatue-led round has not been confirmed. Rival Anthropic is valued at $965 billion in IPO reports; see Anthropic IPO: what early backers' stakes are worth.

A possible compute tie-in

CNBC reported that the UAE funding could be paired with a commercial deal giving OpenAI more computing capacity from the UAE. OpenAI already has a footprint there. In May 2025, OpenAI, G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank announced Stargate UAE, a 1-gigawatt compute cluster in Abu Dhabi. G42 is building the cluster and OpenAI and Oracle are operating it. The first 200 megawatts were scheduled to come online in 2026, according to coverage of the launch.

Computing power is OpenAI's largest cost. Crypto Briefing, citing CNBC, reported that OpenAI has told investors it expects about $600 billion in compute spending by 2030. A deal that combines equity with data-center capacity would let the investors put money into both OpenAI and the infrastructure it uses.

The IPO race with Anthropic

OpenAI said in June 2026 that it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It also said it had not decided on timing. Since then, the company has signaled that a listing will not happen this year. CFO Sarah Friar said in August that OpenAI expects to list in 2027, CNBC reported, and Bloomberg described the new round as a bridge to the IPO. The reasons given for the delay have varied between reports, from CEO Sam Altman's comments on market conditions to a stated focus on AI safety. Our explainer how does an IPO work covers the S-1, roadshow and pricing steps.

Anthropic appears to be further along. It also submitted a confidential draft S-1 in June. In May, it raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation. CNBC reported that Anthropic is seeking a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in its public debut. The draft filing has already drawn scrutiny. Bullquill covered Anthropic's reported $80.7 billion first-half loss, which was mostly a non-cash charge.

A $1.25 trillion private valuation sets a high starting point for OpenAI's eventual listing. Public investors would need to accept a price above that level for the IPO to avoid being a "down round" for the new backers.

What it means

For OpenAI, the round would add cash to cover compute costs without the disclosure that comes with a public listing. Bloomberg reported, as cited by TechCrunch, that OpenAI's run-rate revenue reached $40 billion in August after the company refocused on areas such as coding. That growth supports a high price. Large losses and very large compute commitments explain why the company keeps raising money. OpenAI has also said it will train frontier models on a cached offline web after a sandbox escape; see OpenAI to train models without internet.

For the wider AI market, the talks show that large private checks are still available, though possibly at a lower price than first proposed. Other labs are raising at the same time, including DeepSeek's reported $15 billion round. OpenAI is also widening distribution, for example by bringing its models and Codex to Google Cloud.

Several things are still unknown: the final amount, the full investor list, the details of any UAE compute agreement, and whether the round closes at $1.25 trillion. Until OpenAI or the investors confirm the terms, the figures should be treated as reported, not final.

Sources

• CNBC: OpenAI funding round with UAE investors (October 22, 2026)
• TechCrunch: OpenAI working on new $30B raise at $1.25T valuation ahead of IPO
• Crypto Briefing: OpenAI seeks $30B funding round at $1.25T valuation ahead of potential IPO
• TechCrunch: OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation
• Investing.com via Yahoo Finance: OpenAI in talks with UAE funds to anchor $30 bln funding round – Bloomberg
• TNW: OpenAI is in talks with Abu Dhabi's MGX and BlackRock for a $30B round
• Bloomberg Law: OpenAI valued at $852 billion after mega $122 billion round
• Bloomberg: OpenAI set to raise $10 billion from MGX, Coatue, Thrive
• TechRepublic: OpenAI starts IPO process with confidential SEC filing
• Anthropic: Anthropic confidentially submits draft S-1
• Intelligent CIO: G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank, Cisco launch Stargate UAE