OpenAI receives latest $20 billion tranche from Nvidia and SoftBank, GPT-6.1 Sol debuts

Nvidia and SoftBank have completed the latest investment in OpenAI’s most recent funding round, each contributing ten billion dollars. This is according to corporate communications from OpenAI, Nvidia and SoftBank, reported by The Information and official release notes collected by Releasebot.

The move comes alongside the launch of GPT-6.1 Sol, the new version of the language model from the company led by Sam Altman. According to the same corporate sources, the model improves on the previous GPT-6 Sol in three areas: automated code writing via autonomous agents, direct computer use by the system, and tasks related to professional work. The rollout is gradual: it starts with Pro plan users on ChatGPT Work and on Codex, OpenAI’s tool dedicated to programming.

The combination of fresh capital and a new model places OpenAI at a stage where investments from major infrastructure providers — Nvidia manufactures the processors on which the models run, SoftBank holds a broad portfolio in the technology sector — are increasingly tied to the release schedule. This is not the first time a funding cycle has coincided with a product launch: the timing signals how dependent the generative artificial intelligence sector has become on capital cycles concentrated in a few hands, with Nvidia and SoftBank appearing both as funders and as suppliers or commercial partners within the OpenAI ecosystem.

On the technical side, the most significant development concerns what is defined as the agentic domain: systems capable of carrying out sequences of actions — writing, testing and fixing code, or operating a digital interface as a person would — without continuous supervision. This is also ground on which OpenAI’s direct competitors are being measured, and the choice to direct the new model first to professional users and developers confirms that the company regards this segment, rather than the general public, as the immediate testing ground.

The available sources do not specify OpenAI’s overall valuation following the close of the round, nor the contractual terms of the agreement with Nvidia and SoftBank beyond the amount paid in this tranche. Details are also lacking on timing and the percentage of users who will receive GPT-6.1 Sol outside the Pro plan. This is information that, should it emerge, will warrant a separate update.

One verifiable fact remains: Nvidia and SoftBank each contributed, in this tranche, ten billion dollars to OpenAI’s latest funding round, for a total of twenty billion dollars.