OpenAI Group PBC and Anthropic PBC are reportedly seeking new funding rounds that could significantly boost their respective valuations.

Both companies are expected to go public as early as this year. That means the investments under discussion may be the last ones they raise.

The Wall Street Journal today cited sources as saying that SoftBank Group Corp., OpenAI’s biggest backer, is seeking to increase its stake in the ChatGPT developer. The cash infusion is expected to be worth as much as $30 billion. Last year, SoftBank invested a similar amount in OpenAI for an 11% stake.

The Japanese tech giant is not only an investor in the artificial intelligence provider but also one of its most important infrastructure partners. Last year, OpenAI teamed up with a SoftBank unit to build a 1.2-gigawatt data center hub in Texas. SB Energy, as the subsidiary is called, will operate the campus on the ChatGPT developer’s behalf after construction is complete.

SoftBank provided its initial $30 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a $41 billion round that also included other participants. According to the Journal, the upcoming $30 billion cash infusion could be delivered under a similar arrangement. SoftBank’s investment is expected to form part of a funding round that will be worth up to $100 billion and could value OpenAI at $830 billion.

The report didn’t name the other potential participants in the deal. Last month, CNBC reported that Amazon.com Inc. could invest more than $10 billion in OpenAI and provide it with access to AI chips. Such a deal would be notable partly because the cloud and retail giant is a major investor in Anthropic, OpenAI’s top startup rival. 

Amazon has provided Anthropic with $8 billion in funding since March 2024. Additionally, it built a data center campus called Project Rainier to run the AI developer’s workloads. The hub reportedly hosted 1 million AI chips at the end of 2025, a number that Amazon is expected to increase significantly over time. 

On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Anthropic is seeking a new funding round worth $20 billion. It’s believed that the round will include contributions from OpenAI backer, Sequoia Capital Singapore’s GIC sovereign wealth fund and Coatue.

Sources told CNBC that Anthropic has already closed a funding tranche worth $10 billion to $15 billion. The company will reportedly raise more if Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. decide to join the round. Microsoft has invested more than $10 billion in OpenAI and was its exclusive cloud provider until last year.

The funding round will reportedly value Anthropic at $350 billion, nearly double what it was worth after its most recent raise in September. The company is expected to follow up the deal with an initial public offering in the second half of 2026. OpenAI reportedly hopes to list its shares around the same time at a valuation of $1 trillion.

Image: Anthropic