OpenAI cuts funding goal by $10B amid tech market concerns: FT

OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, has spent 2025 raising capital at valuations that climbed from hundreds of billions to a reported $1.4 trillion target, backed by investors including Microsoft and SoftBank. That target has now been cut to $1.25 trillion alongside the $10 billion trim to the funding goal. The move lands in the same week as a broader technology stock selloff, and alongside rival Anthropic's own push toward a public listing.

A smaller raise means less cash for OpenAI's compute and data-center commitments, which run into the hundreds of billions over coming years. Early employees and secondary-market sellers holding stock now face a lower mark, roughly $150 billion less than the prior $1.4 trillion figure. Later-stage backers gain leverage to negotiate terms, while OpenAI must either scale back infrastructure ambitions or find other financing to cover the gap.

Investors holding back until Anthropic's shares trade publicly exposes a real problem with private AI valuations: they are marks set by the last round, not by a market. If Anthropic prices below or near OpenAI's implied multiple, it tests whether the trillion-dollar private tags across the sector reflect real demand or momentum. That question now sits over every AI company still raising at paper valuations rather than market ones.

The next signal is whether OpenAI closes its round at the reduced $1.25 trillion valuation and $10 billion lower target, or cuts again if the tech selloff extends. Anthropic's IPO filing and first trading price, once it arrives, will give the comparison point investors say they are waiting for. A weak Anthropic debut would pressure OpenAI's number further; a strong one would validate the current private marks. (per cryptobriefing.com)