OpenAI recently broke its own record. The company behind ChatGPT announced on Friday that it has raised $110 billion in new funding, nearly tripling a $41 billion round that closed in March 2025, which was the largest private equity round in history at the time.
The company said Amazon ( AMZN ) is investing $50 billion, while Nvidia ( NVDA ) and SoftBank are investing $30 billion each. The deal values OpenAI at $730 billion in upfront funding, or $840 billion in fully diluted funding, a sharp jump from the $500 billion estimate it raised in the second round four months ago.
Sam Altman appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box Friday morning for CNBC’s first interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “We’re very excited about this deal,” Altman told Squawk Box. “We will continue to have a good relationship with Microsoft. We are happy to have a good relationship with Amazon. AI will happen everywhere. It is changing the whole economy, and the world needs more computing power to meet the demand.”
The round is always open. OpenAI expects additional investors, including private equity funds and billionaire firms, to add around $10 billion before the round closes at the end of March.
This is not a currency. Each of the three trusted investors found a strategic partnership next to their checks, reshaping the competitive landscape of cloud computing and AI infrastructure.
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Amazon’s $50 billion is the largest investment it has ever made in any company. $15 billion comes first, and the remaining $35 billion comes when certain undisclosed conditions are met.
As part of the deal, AWS becomes the third-party cloud provider for OpenAI’s Frontier enterprise platform, and OpenAI will extend its existing $38 billion AWS agreement with an additional $100 billion over eight years.
Nvidia’s $30 billion comes with dedicated computing commitments. OpenAI has committed to using 3 gigawatts of dedicated capacity and 2 gigawatts for training on Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems. SoftBank’s $30 billion is continuing chairman Masayoshi Son’s conviction at OpenAI, following his $30 billion investment in the March 2025 round.
Amazon ($50 billion). AWS becomes the exclusive third-party cloud for OpenAI’s Frontier enterprise platform. Both companies will also develop customized AI models to power Amazon’s consumer products.
Nvidia ($30 billion). OpenAI is locking in 5 gigawatts of next-generation Vera Rubin computing capacity for training and coaching, deepening its reliance on Nvidia’s hardware ecosystem.
SoftBank ($30 billion). Son’s second major OpenAI commitment follows his $30 billion donation in March 2025, which shows continued belief in the AGI timeline despite widespread market skepticism.
The boost scale shows how expensive the AI is at the border. CNBC reported that OpenAI is targeting about $600 billion in total computing revenue by 2030, which has been revised down from an earlier forecast of $1.4 trillion as concerns grew that its infrastructure ambitions were outpacing realistic revenue forecasts.
Photo by NurPhoto on Getty Images ·Photo by NurPhoto on Getty Images
The revenue side is getting stronger. OpenAI now serves more than 900 million weekly active users, including more than 50 million paying consumer subscribers and more than 9 million business users. The company projects more than $280 billion in revenue by 2030, split evenly between consumer and business.
“We are entering a new phase where the frontier of AI is moving from research to everyday use around the world,” the company said. “Leadership will be defined by who can scale infrastructure quickly enough to meet demand, and turn that capacity into products people can rely on.”
Microsoft, OpenAI’s anchor supporter since 2019 with more than $13 billion invested, did not participate in this round. Both companies moved quickly to address the narrative. A joint statement from both companies said nothing about the announcement, saying it “in no way changes the terms” of Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, and that the relationship remains “firm and moderate.” Microsoft still has an option to join the round.
The competitive picture is changing regardless. Anthropic closed a $30 billion Series G round on Feb. 12 at a post-money valuation of $380 billion, with Nvidia and Microsoft both participating. Google continues to build Gemini internally. Meta opens its models. OpenAI is betting that the scale of the infrastructure, not just the quality of the models, will determine who wins the enterprise market.
The deal sizes are impressive, but there are strings attached, and things need to go smoothly for all the deals to come to fruition and for OpenAI to be successful in the long term.
Conditions at $35 billion for Amazon.Reuters reported that the second phase could depend on OpenAI acquiring AGI or completing an IPO by the end of the year, citing people familiar with the matter. OpenAI has not confirmed those terms specifically but has acknowledged that conditions exist.
Income must match consumption. OpenAI includes a 600 billion revenue target by 2030 and even predicts a revenue of 280 billion during the same period. The gap between spending and income is a major threat to the entire thesis.
Antitrust Inspection. Federal regulators may be interested in this agreement. The FTC has previously investigated Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, and the circular nature of this chip-and-cloud investment is drawing attention in Washington.
Microsoft partnership. Amazon’s entry as a deep strategic partner creates a new dynamic with Microsoft, the longest-standing supporter of OpenAI. Both companies say nothing has changed, but AWS’ $100 billion commitment is hard to set up as neutral.
The $110 billion raise answers one question for sure: investors still believe OpenAI can win the AI infrastructure race. Whether income follows the computer is the only remaining question.
Related: OpenAI’s latest hire changes everything about AI’s next move
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 28, 2026, where it appeared first in the Technology category. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.
