OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT, has raised a staggering USD 6.6 billion in a funding round, valued the company at USD 157 billion. Existing investors such as Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Microsoft participated, along with new entrants like US chipmaker NVIDIA, according to a Reuters report.

Thrive Capital notably contributed around USD 1.2 billion through a mix of its own funds and a special-purpose vehicle for smaller investors. It also secured an option to invest an additional USD 1 billion next year, contingent on OpenAI hitting a specific revenue milestone.

The newly raised capital will primarily fuel OpenAI’s leadership in frontier AI research, enhance compute capacity, and drive product development, as stated in the company’s blog.

“We’ve raised USD 6.6 billion in new funding at a USD 157 billion post-money valuation to accelerate progress on our mission. The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems,” read the company’s blogpost.

“We aim to make advanced intelligence a widely accessible resource. We’re grateful to our investors for their trust in us, and we look forward to working with our partners, developers, and the broader community to shape an AI-powered ecosystem and future that benefits everyone. By collaborating with key partners, including the US and allied governments, we can unlock this technology’s full potential,” said the company.

This major funding round follows significant leadership changes. Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer, recently resigned after more than six years at OpenAI. Other notable departures include Bob McGrew, research chief, and Barret Zoph, research vice president.

Earlier this year, co-founder Ilya Sutskever also left the company to co-launch a new AI venture, Safe Superintelligence Inc (SSI), with Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy, formerly of Y Combinator and OpenAI, respectively.