Apple drops out of talks to join OpenAI investment round: WSJ

APPLE has left negotiations to participate in an OpenAI funding round expected to raise about US$6.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday (Sep 27).

The tech giant recently fell out of the talks for the round, set to close next week, the newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Other companies, such as Microsoft and Nvidia, have also been in talks to participate, the report said, adding that Microsoft was expected to invest about US$1 billion after having already poured US$13 billion into the company.

OpenAI declined to comment, while Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month, the Journal first reported that Apple was in the talks, as part of OpenAI’s new fundraising effort that could value the ChatGPT maker above US$100 billion.

The high valuation is a result of the AI arms race OpenAI sparked with its launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, spurring companies across industries to invest billions in the technology to stay ahead of the competition and capture market share. REUTERS