OpenAI has scaled back the amount it wants from private investors and lowered its proposed valuation, the Financial Times reported, as technology shares retreat amid concerns over artificial intelligence spending.
The revised proposal puts OpenAI’s value at approximately $1.25 trillion and seeks around $20 billion in fresh capital. Earlier terms called for a $30 billion investment at a valuation of $1.4 trillion.
Market losses provide the backdrop to the financing changes. CoinDesk reported that the Nasdaq 100 had lost roughly 10% over the three weeks following its October 6 peak, with a 4.5% decline on Friday alone. The broader Nasdaq fell 2.9% on October 30, ending its weakest month since March 2025.
Several major technology companies have disclosed heavy investment expenditure alongside pressure on cash generation. Alphabet’s October 29 results prompted a 12% share-price decline, its steepest ever, wiping approximately $500 billion from its market capitalization.
Alphabet disclosed that its AI-generated search answers, delivered through AI Overviews and AI Mode, were hurting advertising revenue. Search advertising expanded 12%, the slowest rate in five quarters. Meanwhile, its capital expenditure forecast reached as high as $205 billion for 2026, with further increases planned for 2027. Third-quarter free cash flow was negative $9.1 billion, marking a second successive quarterly deficit.
Intel suffered an even larger percentage decline on October 30. Its shares lost 28%, removing more than $130 billion in market value, after the company said AI investment would continue rising despite softer personal-computer demand and an expected cash-flow deficit this year.
Other losses that Friday included 4% for Nvidia, 5% for Broadcom and 11% for Qualcomm. Reddit shares dropped 29%.
Cash-flow disclosures elsewhere also highlighted the scale of the sector’s spending commitments. Amazon, with $220 billion allocated to capital expenditure this year, recorded negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion over the preceding 12 months. A year earlier, that measure had been positive $14.8 billion.
Meta’s third-quarter free cash flow showed a $2.1 billion deficit, while its capital spending guidance reached up to $145 billion. On Friday, S&P Global Ratings revised the company’s credit outlook to negative, identifying financial pressure from AI investment as the reason.
Against that market backdrop, OpenAI faces competition for investor capital from Anthropic. The rival developer is reportedly organizing a November stock-market listing that could bring in as much as $100 billion and value the business at $1.5 trillion. A Friday report also said Blackstone had warned that Anthropic might secure only a double-B credit rating, below investment grade, after going public.
The FT reported that OpenAI had accelerated its fundraising schedule to finish ahead of Anthropic’s offering. The intention was to avoid approaching the same investors simultaneously.
The earlier $1.4 trillion valuation had been presented to private-wealth clients in mid-October. The subsequent adjustment therefore came within roughly two weeks.
The latest financing effort also differs sharply from OpenAI’s spring transaction. That SoftBank-led round raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation. The current proposal seeks half as much capital while assigning the company a value more than four times higher.
OpenAI, led by Sam Altman and viewed as the world’s most valuable privately held company, had already deferred its own listing plans until 2027. Anthropic’s reported November offering is the nearer public-market fundraising event.
