OpenAI announced that it has closed a $110 billion funding round. A number so large that the brain can barely comprehend it. For comparison, more than 118 countries around the world have a lower annual gross domestic product. And this is money for a single company.
Yet just a year ago, OpenAI celebrated a record $40 billion investment from SoftBank. Now it is more than double that. Who is behind it? Amazon contributed $50 billion, while Nvidia and SoftBank each contributed $30 billion. OpenAI's total valuation before the round closed reached $730 billion, rising to more than $840 billion afterward.
Speculation about the massive funding round had been circulating since December 2025. At the time, OpenAI began talks with potential investors, and the figures leaked to the media seemed almost unbelievable. In the end, however, they were confirmed. And they even exceeded expectations. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, commented with his usual calm: "Artificial intelligence will be adopted everywhere. It will transform the entire economy, and the world needs enormous computing power to meet demand." It is hard to argue with that when the company reports more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million paying customers. January and February 2026 are also on track to become the strongest months in history for new subscribers.
Amazon: the new main partner
The largest share of the investment came from Amazon. But it is not just about the money. Amazon Web Services has become the exclusive external cloud service provider for the OpenAI Frontier platform, which enables companies to build and deploy teams of artificial intelligence agents.
The original agreement between the two companies was worth $38 billion. They are now expanding it by another $100 billion over the next eight years. The partnership also includes the development of custom models for Amazon's consumer applications and access to 2 gigawatts of computing power through Trainium chips, including the upcoming Trainium4.
Amazon's $50 billion will come in two parts: $15 billion immediately, with the remaining $35 billion to follow once certain conditions are met. What conditions? The companies did not specify, but there is speculation that they could be tied to OpenAI going public or achieving so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Investments from Nvidia and SoftBank
Nvidia invested $30 billion while also securing OpenAI access to 3 gigawatts of dedicated computing power for inference and 2 gigawatts for training on its new Vera Rubin systems. That means direct access to the world's most advanced hardware.
SoftBank, which had already backed OpenAI in last year's record-breaking round, added another $30 billion. After the closing of this round, SoftBank holds a stake in OpenAI worth approximately $64.6 billion, corresponding to roughly 13 percent of the company. This makes the Japanese conglomerate one of its largest individual shareholders.
What is happening with Microsoft?
The logical question is: what does Microsoft, which has funded OpenAI since 2019 and until now has been its closest partner, have to say? The two companies issued a joint statement assuring that their relationship remains "strong and central". Azure continues to host OpenAI's stateless APIs, and Microsoft retains exclusive licenses to the company's models and products.
In other words, Microsoft is not losing its position, but Amazon is now playing in a different league. It has secured exclusivity for the Frontier platform and is becoming the main cloud partner for new products. This realignment of power may be the most interesting part of the entire story.
Records are falling one after another
Let us put the figures into context. As recently as February 2026, Anthropic, OpenAI's direct rival, announced a $30 billion investment at a valuation of $380 billion. At the time, it was the second-largest deal in venture capital history. Now it is third. Second place is held by OpenAI's $40 billion round from last year. And first? This very round, at $110 billion.
OpenAI plans to spend more than $600 billion on computing infrastructure by 2030 and expects annual revenue to exceed $280 billion, with the consumer and enterprise segments contributing roughly equal shares.
The figures are staggering. And yet the race seems to be only just beginning. Anthropic, Google Gemini, Elon Musk's xAI—they are all pushing hard. OpenAI is betting that whoever controls the infrastructure will control the future. Only time will tell whether it is right.
Sources: cnbc.com and crunchbase.com
