OpenAI trimmed its round to $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, with $11 billion committed
The round got smaller, not cheaper: $20 billion sought at the same $1.25 trillion price, and the money OpenAI no longer needs to sell is being raised as debt against chip orders.
Vincent Jiang · 4 min read
OpenAI$500B — OpenAI, private, latest valuation $500B set Friday, October 31, as the deadline for investors to commit to its latest funding round 1. About $11 billion was committed by then, less than half its original $30 billion ask, The Wall Street Journal reports 1.
The Financial Times says the target has since been cut to about $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, down from $30 billion at $1.4 trillion last month, after several investors reduced their allocations 2. Investor's Business Daily carried the same figures on Saturday morning, alongside news that Meta−1.65% — Meta, down 1.65 percent today and Microsoft−1.38% — Microsoft, down 1.38 percent today have just gone to public markets for money of their own 3. A October 24 Inference report on the Texas attorney general's suit carried the round at $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money price; both numbers have moved since 3.
OpenAI's round halved in a month: $30B asked, $11B committed
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| October ask | $30B asked |
| New target | $20B target |
| Committed so far | $11B committed |
Even trimmed, $1.25 trillion would make OpenAI the most valuable private company ever, up from the $852 billion post-money value of its $122 billion round in March 1. But the price moved down with the ask: $1.25 trillion is $150 billion below the number in play in early October 2.
The price fell with the ask: $1.4 trillion in October, $1.25 trillion now
Data
| Valuation mark | |
|---|---|
| March 2026 round | $852B |
| Early October ask | $1,400B |
| New target | $1,250B |
The timing is a race
OpenAI wanted its first close before Anthropic$350B — Anthropic, private, latest valuation $350B debuts on Nasdaq, expected in mid-November, because both companies are pitching the same pool of investors 1.
The money did not vanish. It went to the lenders
The new money in AI is arriving as debt secured on chip orders, not as equity. On October 26, Bank of America−2.19% — Bank of America, down 2.19 percent today, Citigroup−2.39% — Citigroup, down 2.39 percent today and Morgan Stanley−2.74% — Morgan Stanley, down 2.74 percent today put together $63 billion for a special purpose vehicle, a standalone company created to hold the debt: it borrows, buys Broadcom's−5.24% — Broadcom, down 5.24 percent today AI chips and leases them to Anthropic, with deliveries starting in 2027 4.
The banks sit first in line for repayment if the borrower fails, the first lien, with Blackstone's−1.91% — Blackstone, down 1.91 percent today second lien paid only after them 4. Some banks nearly walked over the price until Broadcom's chief executive, Hock Tan, spent a weekend of calls conceding higher rates and more comfort on the guarantees 4.
The same model is aimed at OpenAI. Broadcom has been seeking more than $50 billion to finance the custom chips it designs with OpenAI since a October 7 report, with Apollo and Blackstone approached and no deal expected before year end 5. That report predates the trim, which is the point: the equity round shrank the same week the debt pipeline was already under construction.
The vendor is the collateral desk
Anthropic's S-1, the registration document a company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission before an IPO, went public on October 26 6. It shows about $417 billion of minimum payments for compute, data centers and leases, sitting inside nearly $900 billion of commitments that run up to 20 years 6. Broadcom is the largest single counterparty at $161 billion, ahead of Google's $114.5 billion, Amazon's−1.20% — Amazon, down 1.20 percent today $110 billion and Microsoft's $45 billion 6.
Broadcom is Anthropic's largest compute counterparty at $161 billion
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Broadcom | $161B |
| $114.5B | |
| Amazon | $110B |
| Microsoft | $45B |
Against all that, Broadcom guarantees first-lien lenders up to about $43.5 billion, on top of a backstop of about $29 billion from earlier this year and up to $42 billion it may lend Anthropic directly 4. Its cash at the start of August was $24.0 billion 4.
Broadcom's Anthropic guarantees outrun its $24 billion of cash
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| First-lien guarantee | $43.5B guarantee cap |
| Direct lending cap | up to $42B |
| August backstop | up to $29B backstop |
| Cash on hand, Aug 2026 | $24.0B cash |
The bull case is already in the price
The other side has numbers too. Anthropic's first-half 2026 revenue was $16.3 billion, up from $1.16 billion a year earlier, and the filing shows $131 billion of cash and equivalents 64. Investment bank DA Davidson's analyst Gil Luria upgraded Broadcom on Tuesday on exactly that logic, and the stock near 20 times forward earnings against a three-year average of 30 already charges for the financing risk 4. Jim Cramer's verdict on the Anthropic deal is that it works because of Tan, and that deals like it will not multiply 4.
November sets the price
The Financial Times attributes the trim to an AI stock selloff, the Nasdaq 100 fell 3.5% on Friday, and to competition from Anthropic's listing 2. The record supports a second reading: money that will not buy equity at $1.25 trillion will still lend against a chip order 2. Equity can walk away before the deal signs. A lease guaranteed by the chip vendor cannot.
Two dates, two prices
Watch two dates. Anthropic lists as ANT in mid-November at an estimated $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, above OpenAI's private mark 63.
Then come the terms of the OpenAI chip financing. Cramer's argument makes Broadcom's chief executive the guarantor of last resort, and if the next stack of chip debt prices above the last one, that guarantee starts costing shareholders. The rate on it will say which frontier-lab price the lenders actually believe. The earlier stages of this trade are told in two Inference pieces: the $42 billion debt shopping trip of October 2 and the $21 billion bond sale with Fitch's sizing of the guarantee.
Get Deals by email, free
The acquisitions, rounds and contracts that move AI money. In our daily email, every weekday.
