ChatGPT-parent OpenAI is reportedly in discussion to raise $6.5 billion in equity financing, which could bring its valuation to $150 billion.

What Happened: The new valuation does not include the funds being raised. The round is expected to be led by Thrive Capital, reported Bloomberg.

Other potential investors include $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$, $Apple (AAPL.US)$, and $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$.

Still, the valuation is a significant jump from the startup's $86 billion valuation from its tender offer earlier this year.

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Microsoft has already invested about $13 billion in OpenAI, over which the tech giant also faced scrutiny from EU's antitrust regulators.

OpenAI is also in talks to secure a $5 billion credit line from banks. However, the terms of these discussions could change, the report noted, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Last month in an internal memo, OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Friar, said that the latest financing will be focused on supporting computing power and operational expenses.

Why It Matters: Nowadays, OpenAI has been making headlines because of a high-profile copyright lawsuit, where the startup is making efforts to keep its co-founder Ilya Sutskever's files confidential.

The development came after lawyers of the Author's Guild said that certain files should be included in the discovery process.

On the other hand, Sutskever, who resigned from OpenAI in May 2024, has raised $1 billion for his AI startup, Safe Superintelligence.

Meanwhile, earlier this month it was reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been working on gaining the U.S. government's support for his AI infrastructure project aimed at forming a global coalition to fund rapid AI development.