OpenAI valuation hits USD 500 billion; becomes world’s most valuable startup

OpenAI’s valuation reached USD 500 billion this week. The company secured its position as the world’s most valuable private, venture-backed startup. The new figure surpasses the reported USD 400 billion valuation of SpaceX.

Surprisingly, the valuation milestone did not come from a traditional primary funding round that raises new capital. Instead, it is a result of a USD 6.6 billion secondary share sale. The transaction allowed current and former employees to sell their stock to investors, including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price.

Enterprise demand drives valuation

The market has justified this high valuation on the company’s rapid penetration into the corporate sector. Financial reports indicate OpenAI generated approximately USD 4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025. The growth was driven by strong enterprise adoption of products like ChatGPT Enterprise and the core API services, which businesses use to build internal applications and customer-facing tools.

Understanding it from a business perspective, the valuation is not only about current success but also the enormous capital expenditure required for future growth. Scaling large language models demands vast amounts of compute power. OpenAI confirmed this need with its recent announcement of the Stargate initiative, a plan to build 10 GW of data center capacity over four years. Reports suggest this long-term investment could total USD 500 billion, with partners like Oracle and SoftBank involved. The scale of this infrastructure spending confirms the company's commitment to meeting the escalating compute demands of large corporate clients and foundational research.

Shifting dynamics

OpenAI's rapid ascent resets the scale for the private ICT market. In a matter of months, the company’s estimated worth jumped from roughly USD 300 billion.

This new valuation confirms that investors view general-purpose AI as the most potent economic force in the near future, outranking other major private ventures like SpaceX and ByteDance. The focus now shifts to whether OpenAI can sustain the growth required to justify this unprecedented valuation. Continued success depends on converting current consumers and trial usage into durable, high-margin enterprise contracts and defending its lead against rising competitors like Anthropic.