SoftBank in talks to lead OpenAI funding round at $300 billion valuation

SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in artificial intelligence developer OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, sources said, in what could be a record single funding round for a private company.The funding comes as Chinese startup DeepSeek has launched an inexpensive AI model that has caught worldwide attention and challenged expectations of what it costs to develop and deploy AI.

Still, SoftBank has valued OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, at $260 billion going into the funding round, up from…