❯ Nvidia and SoftBank each pay their final $10 billion, completing OpenAI’s last funding round

The last $20 billion landsAccording to The Information, SoftBank has made the final $10 billion payment on its $30 billion pledge, and Nvidia has also paid its final $10 billion. The combined $20 billion arrived on October 1, completing all pledges in OpenAI’s March funding round.

A big round paid in installmentsOpenAI’s March round valued it at about $852 billion post-money, with investors paying in tranches: Amazon’s $50 billion was completed in July, while SoftBank and Nvidia paid in stages. Installments let investors pace payments around OpenAI’s milestones, but they also make OpenAI’s cash timing harder to predict.

Cash for computeOpenAI is building data centers in several locations and buying large volumes of chips; with this money in hand, it can more confidently honor the compute contracts it has signed. Nvidia is both investor and chip supplier, so much of its money may come back as purchase orders, a loop the market has long questioned as inflating AI demand.

▪ SIGNALFulfilled pledges only prove the money arrived; the more investors and suppliers overlap, the harder it is to tell how big real demand is.