OpenAI lowers computing power expenditure target to $600 billion, advances new round of massive funding

U.S. artificial intelligence giant OpenAI is updating investors on its long-term capital expenditure plan, aiming to spend approximately $600 billion on computing power by 2030. The company is also advancing a funding round that could exceed $100 billion.

According to reports, OpenAI has provided a lower expenditure target with a clearer timeline. The company expects total revenue to surpass $280 billion by 2030, with consumer and enterprise businesses contributing roughly equally. Sources familiar with the matter say that the current expenditure plan presented to investors will be more directly linked to expected revenue growth.

Regarding funding, sources reveal that this round could exceed $100 billion, with about 90% coming from strategic investors. Nvidia is in negotiations to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI, which could bring the company’s valuation to approximately $730 billion before the funding. Besides Nvidia, strategic investors also include SoftBank Group and Amazon.

Sources indicate that OpenAI plans to allocate a significant portion of the new funds to hardware procurement related to computing power, including chips from Nvidia for data centers and infrastructure development.

Earlier reports from UK media stated that Nvidia’s $30 billion investment in OpenAI would replace the multi-year, $100 billion cooperation framework announced in September last year. This framework was disclosed as a letter of intent, with plans for Nvidia to invest $10 billion in ten installments over several years to acquire significant equity; OpenAI intended to purchase millions of Nvidia AI processors to support up to 10 gigawatts of new computing capacity.

Reports indicate that this cooperation framework has not been formalized into an official agreement. In January, it was reported that the deal had been “shelved.” The new arrangement involves a more direct equity investment structure, with Nvidia investing up to $30 billion in exchange for OpenAI shares.

On the financial front, sources say OpenAI expects to achieve $13.1 billion in revenue in 2025, surpassing the previous target of $10 billion. The company’s expenditure for that year is estimated at around $8 billion, below the $9 billion goal.

Founded in 2015 as a non-profit research lab, OpenAI quickly entered the mainstream market after launching ChatGPT in 2022. Insiders say ChatGPT currently has over 900 million weekly active users, up from 800 million in October last year. In December, the company announced entering a “code red” state to focus resources on enhancing its chatbot capabilities amid pressure from competitors like Google and Anthropic. Sources note that ChatGPT’s growth slowed temporarily last fall but now maintains record-high weekly and daily active user numbers.

Additionally, the company’s coding product Codex has over 1.5 million weekly active users, directly competing with Anthropic’s Claude Code.

(Source: First Financial)