MW Despite questions about AI's long-term profitability, OpenAI and Anthropic accelerate investment

By Jules Rimmer

Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs have been on the road, drumming up new investment to fund their ambitious expansion plans

(Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

For months now, America's tech sector has been beset by doubt and debate about the long-term viability of their business models. For OpenAI and Anthropic, however, two of the companies at the very forefront of AI's development and adoption, there are no qualms and they are accelerating investment into their businesses.

In the past few days, these two unlisted companies, fierce rivals with their ChatGPT and Claude flagship products, both of whom are reportedly considering going public in 2026, have been looking to secure new funding. Media speculation suggests OpenAI is seeking up to $100 billion while Anthropic is hoping to raise $20 billion.

Anthropic, helmed by founder and chief executive officer Dario Amodei, has outlined revenue guidance of $18 billion in 2026, $55 billion in 2027 and $148 billion by 2029, according to The Information in the course of wooing venture capitalists. The Financial Times reported that, owing to high interest, it had doubled the amount it had originally earmarked. At the same time, though, Amodei pushed back the timeline for going cash positive to 2028.

Investors have been drawn to Anthropic primarily because of its reputation as a provider of AI to business users and the favorable reviews garnered by its Claude chatbot. Among the list of high-profile investors in Anthropic are Sequoia Capital, Microsoft $(MSFT)$, Nvidia (NVDA) and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC.

OpenAI has been the subject of intense scrutiny since its co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman issued a Code Red warning to staff highlighting concerns about costs, competition and subscription rates. Nonetheless, despite this uncertainty, OpenAI's latest funding round is suggesting a valuation that could be as high as $830 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is a dramatic uplift on the last reported transaction as recently as October which suggested a valuation of $500 billion. At the center of the latest investment influx is Japan's SoftBank (JP:9984) which has been increasing its stake in OpenAI and as recently as December injected $41 billion to bump it to 11%. In November, SoftBank fully divested all its shares in Nvidia for $5.8 billion, intending to reallocate the capital to OpenAI.

An indication of the funding commitment required by OpenAI.

According to industry reports, Altman is facing a funding requirement of $1.4 trillion by 2033, hence the urgency in finding new investors.

-Jules Rimmer

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2026 05:08 ET (10:08 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.