OpenAI is reported to have cut its fundraising target from $30 billion to about $20 billion, according to the Financial Times, in the latest sign that investors are growing wary of the AI spending boom. The Financial Times reported the change late on Friday, October 30, 2026. OpenAI has not confirmed it, and none of the coverage we read includes a company statement.
What was reported
CoinDesk, relaying the FT report, says OpenAI had been seeking $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation and is now looking to raise about $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation. One caution on the valuation: earlier reporting, including our own coverage on October 24, already put the valuation at $1.25 trillion, so the new element is mainly the smaller size of the raise.
TechCrunch, which reported the story on October 31, adds that the FT expects the first close to be lower still. The FT says the round will be led by investors from the United Arab Emirates. A later retail offering aimed at wealthy individuals could then bring the total to $20 billion, according to TechCrunch's summary.
What the Wall Street Journal added
TechCrunch also cites a follow-up from the Wall Street Journal. That report says OpenAI has secured $11 billion so far, and describes the response from some large investors as tepid. The Journal's headline, as linked by TechCrunch, says OpenAI has raised less than half of its $30 billion target. We have not been able to read the FT or Journal articles themselves, which sit behind paywalls, so these details come through TechCrunch and CoinDesk.
Because TechCrunch and CoinDesk both draw on the FT, they are not fully independent confirmations of each other. The Journal's reporting is a separate source, but we are seeing it second hand. Readers should treat every figure here as reported and unconfirmed.
Why investors are cautious
TechCrunch says Wall Street investors have become wary of heavy AI infrastructure spending, which has contributed to a sell-off in technology shares. A separate TechCrunch analysis on October 30 says Big Tech companies have planned more than $740 billion in capital spending and that free cash flow is turning negative at some of them. That context explains why a company asking for tens of billions of dollars might meet resistance, though neither outlet claims it is the sole reason.
CoinDesk reports that OpenAI had previously put off IPO plans until 2027. The company's fundraising, therefore, is being read as a gauge of appetite for a future listing, though that is an interpretation by commentators and not something OpenAI has said.
Anthropic's own plans are under scrutiny
The same news cycle carried a report about OpenAI's rival. CoinDesk says Anthropic plans to go public in November and is reportedly aiming to raise as much as $100 billion at a $1.5 trillion valuation. TechCrunch reported separately, citing the FT, that Blackstone expects Anthropic to receive a high junk credit rating after its IPO. Both Anthropic and Blackstone declined to comment to TechCrunch.
Those figures are also unconfirmed. They do show that the largest AI labs are all trying to raise sums that few investors have ever been asked to commit, at the same moment that public markets are re-examining the economics.
How this fits the wider picture
The reported cut lands in a week when technology shares were under pressure and when several AI related stories pointed the same way. Investors have spent two years rewarding spending on data centres and chips. The reporting suggests some of them now want clearer evidence of returns before writing larger cheques. That does not mean the demand for AI services has fallen, and nothing in these reports says so. It means the price of financing that demand is being tested.
What it means for users and developers
Nothing in the reports suggests a change to OpenAI's products or prices. The practical question is how much compute the company can pay for. A smaller raise does not by itself mean slower model releases, but it could reduce how much capacity OpenAI can lock in ahead of time, and the company has not said whether its plans change. That is our reading, not a claim from any source.
None of the coverage mentions India, and OpenAI has announced no regional impact.
What to watch next
The first thing to watch is whether OpenAI comments, or whether the company confirms the final size and the investors in the round. Next is whether the retail offering described by the FT materialises and at what scale. The Anthropic IPO, which CoinDesk says is planned for November, will show how much appetite public investors have for these valuations. Further reporting from the FT and the Journal should also clarify whether the $20 billion is a ceiling or a first step.
Published November 1, 2026. Gadgets365 will update this article as more information becomes available.
