OpenAI is accelerating a funding round of about $30 billion that could value the company at more than $1.4 trillion. Reuters reported on October 19, 2026, citing two people familiar with the matter, that OpenAI wants to secure investor commitments before rival Anthropic's expected public market debut in mid-November; SoftBank Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX and other existing backers are in talks to join the round. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment, and Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond.
Why the rush to get ahead of Anthropic
The two frontier labs are competing for the same pool of money. OpenAI held intensive meetings with long-only funds and sovereign wealth funds last week while Anthropic was hosting its own investor day, and people familiar with the matter say OpenAI's round is moving faster than is typical for an offering of this size. Some investors read the push as an attempt to lock in capital that might otherwise flow to Anthropic's IPO, before Anthropic's listing disclosures put the two companies' financials side by side. Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who is not working on the deal, said OpenAI may want to set its own valuation without having to worry about a comparison: in his words, it is really a two-horse race in terms of being public.
OpenAI's bargaining chip is the growth that followed its GPT-6 Astra launch: the company told investors its annualized revenue has reached $50 billion and is expected to rise to $70 billion by year-end, and that price cuts on its cheaper models have boosted usage, with room to cut further. Anthropic's numbers are also substantial: Reuters previously reported annualized revenue of roughly $65 billion by July, with quarterly revenue jumping to $16.8 billion in the third quarter from $11.6 billion in the second, though slowing month-to-month growth has raised investor concerns about its valuation. The capital moves are just as dense on the other side: Anthropic has just placed 5% of its shares into a public benefit fund, so the more the company is worth, the more is set aside for the public. The two companies have even argued publicly over how revenue is counted: OpenAI records revenue net of partner shares and has accused Anthropic of inflating its figures by counting the full gross value of contracts sold through third-party cloud providers; Anthropic says it follows established accounting practices.
Where the money goes, and what the market fears
OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion in March this year, after a record $122 billion funding round that included a commitment from Amazon to invest up to $50 billion. From $852 billion to $1.4 trillion is a rise of more than 60 percent in just over half a year. People familiar with the matter add that the money is not just for show: OpenAI has substantial infrastructure commitments to fund, and if IPO markets deteriorate further and delay its planned 2027 listing, its balance sheet needs strengthening first.
The market backdrop is not cooperating. Reuters reported last week that some existing and prospective Anthropic investors have argued for a debut valuation closer to $1.5 trillion instead of the desired $2 trillion, after third-quarter results fell short of expectations. Markets have been choppy since September, with oil price volatility, rising bond yields and AI safety concerns weighing on technology stocks, while investors scrutinize the debt behind the data center buildout: cloud provider CoreWeave has borrowed nearly $50 billion to fund its rapid expansion, and its shares and debt tumbled last week. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has shed $1.6 trillion in less than two weeks, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk REIT, Nvidia-backed Firmus and SoftBank-backed SB Energy have pulled or paused their listings, and nuclear services company Holtec cited uncertainty around data-center demand when it pulled its US listing last month.
What this race is really betting on
Put the two threads together and the picture sharpens: on one side, two labs comparing revenue and valuations in the trillions and competing for the same investors; on the other, public markets repricing AI infrastructure downward. OpenAI's rush is, at its core, an attempt to price itself before the market prices Anthropic — once a private valuation lands, it becomes the anchor for every negotiation that follows. What is worth watching over the next few weeks is not whether this round closes, but what happens when Anthropic's listing disclosures arrive and the two companies' revenue definitions and growth rates are tallied side by side: whoever gets priced by the market first loses the freedom to tell their own story.
