Microsoft will continue to invest heavily in OpenAI at a valuation of more than $100 billion

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI since 2019, although the Redmond-based software giant is by no means the primary investor in the innovative AI startup. While Microsoft has not disclosed the exact amount, various reports have suggested that Microsoft’s investment could be in excess of $10 billion.

Microsoft is planning to join OpenAI’s latest funding round, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The artificial intelligence startup is aiming to raise billions more and surpass its $100 billion valuation. Prominent venture capitalist Thrive Capital will lead the round, and is expected to invest about $1 billion in OpenAI.

OpenAI’s most recent valuation was $86 billion late last year, when the company’s employees sold a large portion of their existing shares. The WSJ report also notes that some of the company’s current shareholders have been in talks to sell their shares at a valuation of $103 billion, so the valuation of the new round is expected to be even higher.

Fundraising is crucial for startups in general and OpenAI in particular, as developing multimodal AI models requires investments that are spread out and over time, amounting to billions of dollars. Despite being one of the most recognizable names in the industry, and owning some of the most popular AI services in the world, OpenAI is not yet profitable. On the contrary, the company is losing billions of dollars every year to operate ChatGPT for hundreds of millions of users. Furthermore, OpenAI also spends billions of dollars to provide advanced models to the developer community via API. Recently, OpenAI and Google have been engaged in a price war, marked by a significant drop in language model API prices from both companies.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it would be stepping down as an observer on OpenAI’s board. The Redmond company has also hired the Inflection AI team to develop its own AI services, including Copilot, to compete directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Despite these developments, however, Microsoft’s decision to invest further in OpenAI shows the company’s confidence in its partner’s technology and roadmap. With the AI ​​market still evolving rapidly, it will be fascinating to see future innovations from both Microsoft and OpenAI.