OpenAI is in early discussions to raise up to $40 billion in a funding round that could value the company at $300 billion, with SoftBank leading the investment. According to reporting by Berber Jin and Deepa Seetharaman in The Wall Street Journal, SoftBank is considering an investment of $15-25 billion. Part of the funding would support OpenAI’s Stargate initiative, an $18 billion joint venture for building AI data centers in the US. The company’s latest valuation of $157 billion from October would nearly double if the deal succeeds. The funding would represent the largest investment round in Silicon Valley history, surpassing OpenAI’s previous $10 billion raise from Microsoft. The negotiations are still ongoing and could fall through, according to sources familiar with the matter.