OpenAI eyes $1.2T valuation in pre-IPO round, a 41% jump from March

For markets participants, the signal is in the structure: investors, not OpenAI, initiated talks to price the company at $1.2 trillion — roughly 41% above the $852 billion valuation set in March. That scarcity-driven demand, paired with Anthropic's October IPO, is compressing the timeline for AI to become the defining public-market story of 2027.

OpenAI has held early-stage discussions with large investors about a fresh capital raise that would value the company behind ChatGPT at roughly $1.2 trillion before it eventually goes public, according to a Financial Times report circulated by Reuters on September 15, 2026. The conversations are preliminary, were initiated by investors rather than by OpenAI itself, and the $1.2 trillion figure could move in the coming months. Those caveats matter: this is a signal about demand, not a signed term sheet. Even so, the fact that investors are approaching OpenAI — rather than the company shopping itself — says more about the state of the artificial-intelligence capital market than any single number.

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For markets participants, the signal is in the structure: investors, not OpenAI, initiated talks to price the company at $1.2 trillion — roughly 41% above the $852 billion valuation set in March.

Context is essential. OpenAI's last round closed in March 2026 with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion valuation. A move to $1.2 trillion would represent a step-up of roughly 41% in about six months, an appreciation pace that would be remarkable in any sector and is now being treated as normal at the frontier of AI. If completed, the raise would likely be among the largest private financing events in history and would place OpenAI alongside a tiny handful of public megacaps — Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon — whose market values exceed $1 trillion.

The investor-initiated nature of the talks is the most important structural detail. Companies typically raise when they need cash; here, capital appears to be seeking OpenAI. That inversion reflects a scarcity problem: there are very few assets that offer direct, concentrated exposure to frontier AI, and the ones that do are largely staying private. OpenAI's decision to remain off public markets in 2026 — CEO Sam Altman reiterated on Saturday, September 12, that the company would not list this year, citing AI safety concerns — has only intensified competition among large investors for private allocation, effectively turning the pre-IPO round into a rationing event.

The competitive dynamic with Anthropic sharpens the story. Reuters reported earlier this month that Anthropic is expected to begin marketing its IPO in mid-October at the earliest and to complete the listing days before the U.S. midterm elections in November. That gives Anthropic a clear shot at becoming the first major frontier AI lab to trade publicly and at setting the market's first hard price signal for the sector. OpenAI, by deferring its own listing, is effectively conceding that first-mover benchmark to its rival while still raising private capital at a valuation that anticipates a far larger public debut later.