OpenAI adds $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation but falls well short of its target: the market starts to put a measure on AI

By TechCrunch · November 6, 2026.

OpenAI has raised $11 billion in a new round that values the company at $1.25 trillion, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg cites people familiar with the matter, and OpenAI had not responded to TechCrunch at the time of publication.

The round is not yet closed. According to a source cited by Bloomberg, it is expected to close in the coming weeks and could total around $20 billion. In late September, the same outlet reported that OpenAI was seeking $30 billion, so the current figure falls clearly short of the initial target: roughly a third less if the $20 billion is confirmed.

The news comes just hours after Bloomberg also reported that prospective buyers of shares in the IPO of Anthropic, OpenAI's main rival, are working with lower valuations than expected. According to that report, some investors believe the company could be worth as little as $1.1 trillion, compared with the $2 trillion expected about a month ago. OpenAI, for its part, hinted it would go public this year but delayed its plans; an IPO is now expected sometime next year.

TechCrunch adds political context: following the Democrats' landslide victory in the US midterm elections and strong voter opposition to data centers, the AI market is nervous about potential regulatory challenges.

**Our take.** A $1.25 trillion valuation is still an enormous figure, and this news should not be read as a collapse. But it does mark a shift in tone: for two years, capital has mainly paid for the promise, and now it is starting to apply discounts when that promise has to face the public scrutiny of an IPO or a less friendly political environment. With the available data, we cannot say why the round is falling short; the possible explanations (price, pace, regulatory climate) are hypotheses, not facts.

What matters is that market capitalization is not abundance. As we have argued before, the first visible effect of AI is wealth highly concentrated among investors and employees; widely shared abundance comes later, if at all, and depends on real productivity and how the benefits spread. Markets becoming more demanding about these valuations is, in that sense, a healthy correction rather than bad news.

The political front deserves attention. Public opposition to data centers is a real short-term problem, and the industry would be wrong to dismiss it as noise. The coming regulation will be better if it is based on evidence of concrete impacts rather than panic; but for that, the sector must be transparent about its costs.

In the long term, the thesis does not change: the models these companies are funding are the most plausible path to large-scale medical and productivity breakthroughs. What is at stake now is the pace and discipline with which that path is financed. A market that demands more proof forces companies to demonstrate value, and that, in the long run, favors those who deliver results and not just expectations.