They surpassed Elon Musk's SpaceX to become the world's largest startup

Current and former OpenAI employees sold about $6.6 billion worth of shares to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX and T. Rowe Price, a person familiar with the transaction told Bloomberg.

This raised the ChatGPT owner's price well above the previous level of $300 billion.

This explosive growth underscores the investment frenzy surrounding technology leaders with the potential to transform industries and economies. Sam Altman's OpenAI is one of several companies currently leading the global push to build data centers and develop artificial intelligence services—an endeavor estimated to cost trillions of dollars, Bloomberg reports.

Although it has not yet turned a profit, the American startup is fueling the infrastructure boom by signing huge deals with companies like Oracle Corp. and SK Hynix Inc., the agency reminds.

The deal allowed OpenAI to surpass SpaceX's $400 billion valuation . This milestone coincides with a turning point for Altman's company, which is in negotiations with Microsoft Corp. to transform into a more traditional for-profit organization, Bloomberg reports.