OpenAI wants its money in before Anthropic goes public. The ChatGPT maker is racing to secure investor commitments for a funding round of about $30 billion that could value it at more than $1.4 trillion, aiming to finish before rival Anthropic's expected stock-market debut in mid-November, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters in a report published Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026.

Who's in and what OpenAI is pitching

SoftBank Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX and other existing OpenAI backers are in talks to join the round, one of the people said. OpenAI met long-only funds and sovereign wealth funds last week while Anthropic was holding its own investor day, and the round is expected to move faster than is typical for one this size.

OpenAI is telling investors that growth sped up after the launch of its GPT-6 Astra model, that it has reached $50 billion in annualized revenue and expects $70 billion by year-end, according to one of the people. It has also cut prices on its cheaper models, which it says boosted usage. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment; Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond, Reuters said. The Financial Times had earlier reported some details of the raise.

OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion in March, after a record $122 billion round that included Amazon's commitment of up to $50 billion.

Heading off the comparison

One person said OpenAI wants to close before Anthropic's IPO filings give investors a fuller look at its rival's business. The two book revenue differently: OpenAI records it on a net basis and has accused Anthropic of inflating revenue by counting the gross value of contracts sold through cloud partners, which Anthropic has said follows established accounting practice. Anthropic's annualized revenue reached roughly $65 billion by July, and its quarterly revenue rose to $16.8 billion in the third quarter (our Anthropic Q3 story). Some investors have argued for an IPO valuation closer to $1.5 trillion rather than the $2 trillion Anthropic wanted, Reuters reported last week.

Why it matters

The race for capital comes as markets wobble: Reuters noted chip stocks in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index have shed $1.6 trillion in under two weeks, and several AI-infrastructure listings have been pulled or paused. It is also a busy week for Musk's companies, with SpaceX, which owns xAI, reporting results after Tuesday's close and Tesla on Wednesday. More on AI compute money: Anthropic's $45 billion Nscale deal.