OpenAI lands $110 B round, hits $730 B valuation as ChatGPT reveals Chinese intimidation

OpenAI’s $110 billion financing package includes a $50 billion commitment from Amazon and $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank, according to TechCrunch. The round values the ChatGPT maker at $730 billion, making it the largest private raise in tech history. OpenAI said the capital will fund “frontier AI” infrastructure, citing a partnership with Amazon to build a new “stat” service and expanded GPU capacity through Nvidia, though the exact cash‑versus‑service split was not disclosed (TechCrunch).

The funding announcement coincides with OpenAI’s own disclosure of a Chinese state‑linked intimidation campaign that used ChatGPT as a covert diary, CNN reports. A Chinese law‑enforcement official logged instructions to impersonate U.S. immigration officers and to forge county‑court documents aimed at silencing a U.S.-based Chinese dissident. The report describes a network of hundreds of operators and thousands of fake online personas, illustrating how authoritarian regimes can weaponize AI tools for censorship.

OpenAI’s internal security team flagged the Chinese user’s activity after the official’s prompts surfaced in the model’s logs. The company said the incident underscores the need for robust misuse detection and stricter access controls on its API, a point echoed in the CNN piece. OpenAI has not disclosed whether any of the new investors will receive preferential access to the data‑security roadmap.

Analysts note that the massive capital influx will likely accelerate OpenAI’s push into enterprise‑grade AI services, a sector where Amazon and Nvidia already have deep footprints. The partnership with Amazon is expected to integrate OpenAI models into the cloud provider’s suite of AI offerings, while Nvidia’s involvement should secure a pipeline of next‑gen GPUs for scaling ChatGPT‑4 and future models (TechCrunch).

The $730 billion valuation places OpenAI ahead of most public AI firms, but the price tag also raises questions about return expectations. Investors appear betting on OpenAI’s ability to dominate global AI infrastructure and to monetize its growing enterprise customer base, even as geopolitical risks—exemplified by the Chinese intimidation case—loom large over the industry (CNN, TechCrunch).