OpenAI, the world’s biggest AI research organization, has announced that it will be conducting another funding round that could value the firm at over $100 billion. However, the most interesting part is that two of the world’s tech companies seem to be interested in participating in the funding round. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Apple and Nvidia are looking to invest in the AI research company.
However, the news that Apple was interested in OpenAI didn’t come out of the blue. Earlier in June 2024, the company introduced a flurry of new AI features at its annual developer conference. All these features were introduced under the Apple intelligence program. It was also announced that OpenAI’s ChatGPT will power some of these AI features.
OpenAI and Apple have been in talks about taking their AI partnership to the next level for quite some time now. Earlier this year, Apple’s senior executive, Phil Schiller, was set to join. OpenAI’s board as an observer. However, he decided not to take the position because of some anti-trust concerns.
Nvidia, on the other hand, can significantly benefit from this investment. It’s no secret that Nvidia is the biggest chip supplier in the world, and its main focus is the AI chips that companies like Apple and OpenAI use for their AI models. This is the reason why Nvidia is showing interest, as this partnership can help increase the sales of their new Blackwell AI chip.
The WSJ report also revealed that Thrive Capital will lead the next round of funding for OpenAI, which could value the company at more than $100 billion.
