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OpenAI’s Valuation Soars to $500 Billion After Major Share Sale Involving SoftBank

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OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has achieved a staggering $500 billion valuation after employees and former staff sold $6.6 billion worth of shares to major global investors, according to a source cited by Reuters. This marks a sharp rise from its previous valuation of $300 billion, signaling the company’s explosive growth in both user base and revenue.

The deal involved sales to a powerful consortium of investors, including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price. The company reportedly authorized the sale of more than $10 billion in stock on the secondary market, giving early employees and stakeholders the chance to cash out part of their holdings while maintaining OpenAI’s momentum in private financing rounds.

SoftBank, already a participant in OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round, has further strengthened its position with this deal. None of the involved firms immediately commented on the transaction.

Financially, OpenAI continues to outperform expectations. The company brought in around $4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025, which is roughly 16% higher than its total revenue for the entirety of 2024, according to The Information.

The timing of this sale coincides with intensifying competition among global tech giants for AI talent and infrastructure dominance. Meta, for instance, is heavily investing in AI companies like Scale AI, and recently hired its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to spearhead its new superintelligence division—a move highlighting the escalating arms race in artificial intelligence innovation and expertise.

As OpenAI’s valuation hits half a trillion dollars, the company stands at the center of this rapidly transforming landscape—its technology, partnerships, and pace of growth redefining the frontier of modern computing.

Apple and OpenAI Seek Dismissal of Elon Musk’s Antitrust Lawsuit

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Apple and OpenAI have jointly asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s xAI, which accuses the two companies of engaging in anticompetitive behavior through their AI partnership.

The lawsuit, filed in August, alleges that Apple’s deal with OpenAI — which integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs — is “exclusive” and unfairly limits competition by sidelining Musk’s X platform and its Grok chatbot.

APPLE AND OPENAI REJECT CLAIMS OF MONOPOLY

In court filings on Tuesday, Apple’s lawyers stated that the company’s deal with OpenAI is not exclusive and does not restrict competition in any way.

“Apple and OpenAI’s agreement is expressly not exclusive, and it is public and widely known that Apple intends to partner with other generative AI chatbots,” Apple’s filing said.

OpenAI echoed this argument, accusing Musk of engaging in a “campaign of lawfare” — using lawsuits to attack competitors — and said xAI had failed to demonstrate any concrete harm.

“Musk’s claims are purely speculative,” OpenAI’s attorneys wrote. “xAI has not alleged any direct or anticompetitive harm resulting from ChatGPT’s integration as an option on certain iPhones.”

BACKGROUND OF THE DISPUTE

Apple and OpenAI’s collaboration, announced in June 2024, made ChatGPT accessible across Apple’s ecosystem, allowing users to access the chatbot through Siri and other built-in applications.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit before it transitioned into a for-profit structure under CEO Sam Altman, has since become one of its harshest critics. He argues that OpenAI has abandoned its original mission of open and safe AI development.

Musk’s company xAI, launched in 2023, operates the Grok chatbot integrated into his social media platform X (formerly Twitter). xAI’s lawsuit seeks billions in damages, claiming Apple’s partnership with OpenAI harms fair market competition.

Musk is also pursuing a separate lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman in California federal court, seeking to reverse the company’s for-profit conversion.

xAI has not yet responded publicly to Apple and OpenAI’s latest motion for dismissal.

OpenAI to spend $100B on backup servers in five-year cloud push

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OpenAI plans to spend $100 billion over the next five years renting backup servers from cloud providers, according to The Information. The investment comes on top of the $350 billion the company has already projected for server rentals between now and 2030, underscoring the massive infrastructure costs of training and deploying advanced AI systems.

The spending spree reflects the global race for scarce computing capacity, benefiting cloud giants and chipmakers as AI developers scramble to secure the hardware needed to train and run ever-larger models. With backup capacity included, OpenAI expects to average $85 billion annually on server rentals over the next five years.

Executives told shareholders the servers are “monetizable,” meaning they could generate additional revenue not yet included in forecasts—either by enabling new research breakthroughs or handling spikes in product demand. Even so, OpenAI is projected to burn about $115 billion in cash through 2029, as it scales infrastructure to match the ambitions of ChatGPT and future AI models.

The enormous outlays highlight both the intensity of the AI arms race and the risks: investors are betting that today’s infrastructure bets will translate into tomorrow’s breakthroughs and revenue streams.