OpenAI is considering a new round of financing, with a valuation of 1.2 trillion US dollars.

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI is in initial consultations with investors over a new round of financing that could value the company at more than $1.2 trillion before its IPO. This is roughly 41% higher than the $852 billion post-money valuation of its last financing round in March this year.

However, this round of financing is subject to one precondition: whether to proceed depends on the final listing timeline confirmed by OpenAI. Sources familiar with the matter said that this round of consultations was initiated voluntarily by investors.

Altman's Bottom Line: No Listing With Valuation Below $1 Trillion

OpenAI's listing path has been subject to a "minimum valuation requirement" from the very beginning.

The company has confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June this year, officially launching the IPO preparation process. According to market expectations at that time, OpenAI could hit the capital market as early as the second half of 2026, with a valuation that could even reach $1 trillion.

Yet the bell-ringing for listing has been delayed repeatedly.

People familiar with the matter revealed that in recent months, some of OpenAI's major investors have privately expressed concerns that the startup is burning cash too fast to match its revenue growth; other investors have chosen to diversify risks by injecting capital into Anthropic to place simultaneous bets.

What really pushed the IPO back is Altman's insistence on valuation. He still adheres to the target valuation of $1 trillion and refuses to accept a lower valuation in exchange for a faster listing. The advisors put forward a pragmatic choice: either go public as soon as possible but accept a valuation discount, or wait longer to support a higher valuation with higher revenue and a more mature business model.

For ordinary enterprises, going public with a valuation discount to secure financing quickly is the optimal solution, but for OpenAI, a compromise on valuation means a strategic collapse.

Dual Pressures Behind the IPO Delay: Cash Burn and Safety

The insistence on valuation is only one side of the coin. The other side is OpenAI's far-from-relaxing financial situation.

In the first quarter of 2026, OpenAI posted $5.7 billion in revenue, a year-on-year surge of 300%, but its operating loss hit as high as $9.3 billion — for every $1 it earned, it lost $1.6. In the second quarter, its revenue rose 18% quarter-on-quarter, nearly halving from the 35.7% growth rate in the first quarter, while its operating loss further expanded to $12.3 billion.

HSBC predicts that OpenAI's total cash consumption in 2026 will reach $17 billion, with an average daily cash burn of over $46 million. Its revenue growth is completely driven by continuous computing power investment, and the company has never been able to form positive self-sustaining profitability.

This set of data exposes a problem that was previously covered up by rapid growth: when will OpenAI become profitable? This question is especially critical for OpenAI on the eve of its IPO. As the listing window approaches, investors are beginning to ask whether the revenue growth rate is sustainable and when the huge investment in computing power can be translated into profits.

Safety factors are another major consideration. On September 12, Altman explicitly stated in an interview with Fortune that OpenAI will not go public in 2026. His reasoning was that going public at a time when people are increasingly concerned about existential risks posed by AI is an "unwise timing".

Altman also sent a signal of slowing down the pace of frontier model development. He stated that when the models reach new capability levels, OpenAI may temporarily pause capability advancement at certain stages and allocate more resources to safety and alignment research. He even put forward a more serious judgment: "If by the end of 2030, there is roughly a 10% probability that artificial intelligence will lead to the extinction of all humanity, then we should not accept such a risk."

The delay of the IPO is not due to a bad market window, but because the company internally judges that the safety issues have not been addressed to its own satisfaction. Altman said OpenAI is not under any pressure to go public as soon as possible, and the company still has a large number of issues related to safety, alignment, and collaboration between the industry and governments to resolve.

Is $1.2 Trillion Overvalued?

Judging from financial data, it is not easy for OpenAI to support its current valuation.

Calculated based on a price-to-sales ratio of 10 to 15 times, a $1 trillion valuation corresponds to the expectation of a company with hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue that the market is willing to assign a high multiple to. OpenAI's annualized revenue exceeded $200 billion in 2025, with over 900 million weekly active users. To support a $1.2 trillion valuation, this figure still needs to increase significantly. Altman has set a target for OpenAI to achieve $1 trillion in annualized revenue before 2027.

The pressure on the loss side is even greater. OpenAI expects to continue losing money at least until 2030, which makes investors who are used to focusing on profitability feel uneasy, and some investors are even considering shorting its stock after the IPO.

SoftBank's Leverage: $11.8 Billion Loan Bet on OpenAI

The biggest leveraged party behind OpenAI's valuation is SoftBank.

SoftBank plans to invest nearly $65 billion in OpenAI before October. To support this investment, SoftBank has carried out a series of debt financing activities this year. Last week, SoftBank secured a $11.87 billion two-year loan, exceeding its initial target of $10 billion, with commitments from around 20 banks. In addition, SoftBank has a $10 billion margin loan secured by its shares in OpenAI, as well as a potential bond issuance of up to $20 billion.

This means that the trend of OpenAI's valuation directly affects SoftBank's balance sheet. If the market value rises to $1.2 trillion, SoftBank's leverage pressure will be significantly relieved; if the valuation falls short of expectations, the pressure will be transmitted in the opposite direction.

CFO Says "We Can Slow Down If Necessary"

Against the backdrop of the intertwined IPO delay and safety disputes, Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI, made a pragmatic statement in an interview with CNBC: to ensure AI safety, the company can slow down the R&D progress of frontier models when necessary.

"Even if we stop today, the total amount of usable intelligence in the world is huge," Friar said. But she also emphasized that "safety issues must be taken very seriously". If the research team's assessment concludes that the pace needs to be adjusted, the company will make a decision accordingly. Friar has previously told employees that the company expects to go public in 2027.

For OpenAI, the real problem is not whether the valuation can reach $1.2 trillion, but whether the loss can be narrowed and commercialization can be successfully realized after that. Altman chose to push the IPO to 2027, but the market will vote with revenue growth and loss curves.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Tech Business", and is republished with authorization from 36Kr.