OpenAI may be headed toward another massive private-market valuation well before its eventual IPO.
Investors have approached OpenAI about a possible new round that could value the company at about $1.2 trillion, but formal fundraising has not begun.
That distinction matters. OpenAI has not announced a new raise, but investor interest alone suggests the market may already be testing a valuation far above the company’s most recent financing.
OpenAI has not announced a new financing, and there is no confirmed amount it plans to raise. CNBC, however, reported that OpenAI is not currently engaged in formal fundraising discussions, despite investors approaching the company with proposals. The potential round would come just months after OpenAI raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion valuation.
The company’s latest financing discussions come as the company points to stronger business momentum following recent model launches.
The FT reported that OpenAI’s annualized revenue passed $40 billion last month after a 20% jump following the release of GPT-5.6. The Wall Street Journal separately reported that revenue reached $6.7 billion in the three months ended June, up from $5.7 billion in the first quarter.
OpenAI has also been pushing its coding business. The company says Codex has seen strong growth, while its newer Astra model is adding another major product to the portfolio. The numbers help explain why investors could be willing to consider a valuation well above the March figure.
But annualized revenue is not the same as money already earned over a full year, and the proposed valuation remains untested by a completed transaction.
The IPO can wait
A private funding round would also give OpenAI another way to raise capital while delaying its public debut.
CEO Sam Altman said this month that 2026 is not the year for an IPO. In an interview with Fortune, he said, “I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don’t feel pressure on that.”
CNBC reported that CFO Sarah Friar told employees OpenAI “will be a public company in 2027,” although the timing could move if business growth accelerates. For existing investors and employees, staying private can provide more time before the scrutiny and reporting requirements that come with public markets. It can also delay the liquidity event many early backers may be waiting for.
The valuation test
A jump from $852 billion to $1.2 trillion would add roughly $348 billion to the company’s implied value in a matter of months. Forbes reported that OpenAI may even be seeking as much as $1.5 trillion, although other reports put the investor proposal at $1.2 trillion.
At those levels, investors are effectively betting that OpenAI can turn its growing user base, enterprise business, coding tools and AI models into sustained revenue growth while managing enormous computing costs.
That is becoming more important as Anthropic moves in the opposite direction. The rival AI company leapfrogged OpenAI at a $965 billion post-money valuation and is expected to begin marketing its IPO as soon as October, targeting roughly $2 trillion.
For OpenAI, another private round could provide more capital and flexibility without forcing the company into public markets before it is ready.
The trade-off is expectations. Moving from an $852 billion valuation to around $1.2 trillion in a matter of months would raise the growth, margin, and revenue assumptions investors will eventually expect OpenAI to justify.
That makes the next financing more than a fundraising event. It would also set a new benchmark for what public-market investors may one day expect from the company.
Other news: Google, Nvidia, and Emerald AI launched an 18-member alliance aimed at helping AI data centers secure power faster by proving they can reduce or shift electricity use when grids are under strain.