OpenAI eyes $830B mega-valuation

PLUS: TikTok finally makes a deal

AuthorAuthor

Jennifer Mossalgue & Rowan Cheung
December 19, 2025

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. OpenAI is reportedly lining up a funding round that could hit $830B, dropping the ChatGPT maker near Apple and Microsoft territory — despite way smaller revenues and a business model still figuring itself out.

As public AI stocks slide and bubble warnings flare, CEO Sam Altman is racing to lock in cash for compute, outrun Google, and lock down OpenAI as AI’s foundational layer.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • OpenAI eyes massive $830B valuation

  • TikTok’s long saga ends with sale

  • Trump goes nuclear in $6B fusion deal

  • Japan creates a near ‘perfect plastic’

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: OpenAI is negotiating a funding round at an $830B valuation that would vault the ChatGPT maker into the ranks of tech’s mega-cap giants, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The details:

  • The round aims to raise up to $100B by Q1 2026, with SoftBank already committed for $30B.

  • The funding push comes as OpenAI vows to spend trillions of dollars and signs massive cloud and data center deals across Japan, Europe, and the U.S.

  • Timing’s dicey: public AI stocks are stumbling as bubble warnings get louder and skeptics say valuations have drifted far from actual earnings.

  • OpenAI recently declared “code red” to counter Google’s moves, cranking up pressure to show that massive infrastructure spending will actually deliver.

Why it matters: This $100B would add a hefty amount to OpenAI’s coffers, which currently have more than $64B, while buying runway to compete with Google and other rivals while the race to profitable AI remains wide open. The tension: can valuations this stratospheric hold up before anyone proves the underlying business actually works?

TOGETHER WITH KLUTCH

The Rundown: Klutch is a developer platform that lets you programmatically design, issue, and manage your consumer credit card. Whether you’re prototyping side projects or validating payment flows, Klutch gives you RESTful endpoints, sandbox environments, and secure infrastructure to issue cards and move money from your personal developer account.

In the platform, you’ll explore:

  • Instant card issuing and management

  • Flexible APIs for seamless integrations

  • Secure, scalable payment infrastructure

TIKTOK

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: TikTok has officially signed a deal to sell its U.S. operations to Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE-backed MGX, closing January 22 and ending years of legal limbo over the bipartisan ban.

The details:

  • Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX will each own 15% stakes, with ByteDance retaining 20% and another 30% held by affiliates of ByteDance investors.

  • The new venture gets a majority-U.S. board, with user data stored locally in Oracle’s systems.

  • The algorithm will also be retrained on U.S. data to keep feeds “free from outside manipulation.”

  • Trump signed four executive orders total this year to delay the ban while negotiating, even as the White House launched its own TikTok account.

Why it matters: This ends years of legal limbo after a divest-or-ban order nearly killed the app — TikTok briefly went dark in January 2025 before Trump started brokering a deal. ByteDance still owns the underlying algorithm, but U.S. auditors have signed off on the arrangement, betting that American oversight of operations and data is enough.

ENERGY TECH

Image source: TAE Technologies

The Rundown: Trump’s social media and crypto company is merging with TAE Technologies, a privately held nuclear fusion developer, in a $6B deal creating one of the first publicly traded fusion companies in the U.S.

The details:

  • Shareholders from both companies will each own roughly 50% of the combined entity, with Trump Media providing $200M at signing and $100M at close.

  • The combined company plans to site and begin construction on a 50-megawatt utility-scale fusion power plant in 2026.

  • Trump Media reported a $54.8M net loss in Q3 2025, though it’s sitting on $3.1B in assets, mostly crypto holdings and short-term investments.

  • TAE has raised $1.3B from investors including Google, but commercial fusion remains unproven despite decades of research and recent breakthroughs.

Why it matters: The deal bets that capital can fast-track fusion tech that’s still years from commercial viability — raising conflict-of-interest questions about a president-owned company chasing federal subsidies and approvals. It also marks Trump Media’s latest pivot away from its flailing social platform into crypto, AI, and now nuclear energy.

TECH FOR GOOD

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Japanese researchers say they’ve engineered what amounts to a near-perfect plastic: a plant-based material that behaves like conventional plastic in use, but dissolves completely in seawater within hours leaving no microplastics behind.

The details:

  • Scientists have developed a plant-based plastic that behaves like conventional plastic in use but fully degrades in natural environments.

  • It’s derived from cellulose and uses salt-based bonds that remain stable during use but break apart in seawater within hours and in soil within days.

  • As it decomposes, the plastic breaks down into benign components that can even return nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus to the ecosystem.

  • The bioplastic can be reheated, reshaped, and recycled, making it suitable for packaging and products that currently rely on petrochemical plastics.

Why it matters: Plastics are everywhere — 11M metric tons hit the oceans yearly, microplastics turn up in human blood and food chains, the whole mess. Japan’s new plant-based plastic — and similar materials from RIKEN — that dissolves in seawater could offer one of the first real shots at cutting pollution at the source.

QUICK HITS

Meta is reportedly developing a new image- and video-focused AI model code-named Mango alongside its next text-based LLM; both are expected to launch in early 2026.

The Marshall Islands has launched a national universal basic income scheme offering quarterly $200 payments as a cryptocurrency stablecoin or in traditional currency.

Eric Schmidt and Xavier Niel are backing a $1B plan to build a new physics and deep-tech innovation hub near CERN in Geneva to commercialize fundamental research.

A Starlink satellite appears to have exploded in orbit, creating a cloud of debris that has raised fresh concerns about the risks of SpaceX’s massive broadband constellation.

Apple’s new developer agreement lets it claw back unpaid commissions and fees by deducting them directly from developers’ in‑app revenue and related accounts.

Jeff Bezos–backed Slate Auto has racked up more than 150K reservations for its low-cost electric pickup due in late 2026, defying waning enthusiasm for EV trucks.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4, as NASA’s next administrator under Trump.

Pickle Robot has hired former Tesla vice president Jeff Evanson as its first CFO, as the startup reportedly expands a UPS deal worth $120M for 400 unloading robots.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

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