OpenAI raises 160 trillion won in large-scale investments from Amazon, SoftBank, and NVIDIA

OpenAI, known for developing ChatGPT, is attracting attention as it secures up to $110 billion (approximately 160 trillion Korean won) in new major investments from Amazon, SoftBank, and NVIDIA. This is the largest funding round in OpenAI’s history, valuing the company at $730 billion (about 1,000 trillion Korean won) before the new investments.

In this round, Amazon invested $50 billion, while SoftBank and NVIDIA each invested $30 billion. Through its partnership with Amazon, OpenAI will utilize Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center infrastructure and participate in developing customized AI models for Amazon. Considering Amazon’s previous investment in OpenAI’s competitor Anthropic, this move seems aimed at strengthening closer collaboration with OpenAI.

As OpenAI’s largest existing investor, Microsoft has explicitly stated that its partnership remains strong after this round of investment. With competitors like Amazon joining the investment, it is expected that the collaboration landscape around OpenAI will continue to evolve in the short term.

However, as OpenAI’s corporate valuation skyrockets, signs of a potential AI industry bubble have emerged. The company’s value has increased by about 1.5 times in just a few months, fueling concerns over the gap between AI technology’s actual value and overly high expectations. Additionally, there are questions about investors engaging in “self-circular transactions” to promote ongoing use of their own chips and infrastructure.

Given this trend, the AI industry is likely to continue attracting attention amid a constantly changing market environment and investment conditions. The future direction of the industry will depend on regulatory assessments by various countries and the cooperation trends among major companies.