San Francisco: OpenAI valuation has been set to climb significantly as the artificial intelligence firm considers a major share sale.
Reports have indicated that the company is in discussions to sell $6 billion (£4.7 billion) in stock from current and former employees, which would push its overall value to $500 billion (£392 billion). This rise would place OpenAI above SpaceX, currently valued at $350 billion (£274 billion), making it the most valuable private company globally.
The company has already seen rapid growth over the past year. OpenAI attracted investments from firms such as Microsoft and SoftBank, with total funding surpassing $40 billion (£31 billion). Earlier in 2025, OpenAI was valued at $300 billion (£235 billion), following a valuation of $157 billion (£123 billion) last October.
Bloomberg reported that investors including SoftBank, Thrive Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group are part of the discussions, though details remain subject to change. OpenAI has not issued a public comment on the matter.
The artificial intelligence sector has become increasingly competitive, with technology giants such as Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft spending an estimated $155 billion (£121 billion) in 2025 on AI development. This includes building data centres and hiring specialist engineers to accelerate innovation.
Despite its rapid rise, OpenAI has faced mixed reviews for GPT-5, its newest AI model. While the company has described GPT-5 as “generally intelligent,” users have expressed concerns over weaker writing capabilities and a less engaging personality compared with previous models.
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has maintained that the company is focused on building artificial general intelligence (AGI), an AI system capable of outperforming humans in most tasks. However, he said that GPT-5 has not yet reached the stage of continuous learning.
At the same time, AI firms continue to face regulatory scrutiny over risks related to chatbot outputs, including harmful or manipulative conversations. With its rising valuation and growing global influence, OpenAI remains at the centre of debates over the benefits and challenges of advanced AI.
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