It is reported that OpenAI is nearing completion of a new round of super-large-scale private financing, rather than directly advancing to IPO. Sources told CNBC that this AI laboratory is seeking to raise up to $30 billion, with a pre-financing valuation of $1.25 trillion. This round of financing will be led by Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates.

This echoes a similar report by Bloomberg from a month ago. At that time, Bloomberg stated that this AI laboratory was seeking to raise $30 billion with a valuation of $1.4 trillion. The CNBC report indicates that the funds from the United Arab Emirates may also be linked to an agreement in which the UAE will provide additional computing power for OpenAI.

OpenAI refuses to comment.

If OpenAI achieves a valuation of over $1 trillion through this round of financing, it will set a record and become the privately held company with the highest valuation in history. This valuation will also further raise the threshold for OpenAI's upcoming IPO. OpenAI secretly submitted its IPO application documents in June; in March, during its previous round of financing, the post-investment valuation for this ChatGPT developer was $852 billion.

Such a high valuation may also have an impact on the IPO of Anthropic, with many believing that the latter is closer to going public. (Market rumors suggest that the public S-1 documents for Anthropic could be submitted at any time.) CNBC cites the latest reports stating that Anthropic is seeking a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion when it goes public. CNBC mentioned that Anthropic raised $65 billion in financing in May, with a valuation of $965 billion; at that time, many believed that would be its last major round of financing before IPO. The company also secretly submitted its listing application documents in June.