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STORY: OpenAI has closed its latest fundraising round, raking in $6.6 billion from investors.

That values the ChatGPT maker at around $157 billion - cementing its status as one of the world’s most valuable private companies.

Top corporate backer Microsoft was among those to put money in.

AI chip champion Nvidia also contributed.

As did Japanese investment giant SoftBank.

But Apple did not, despite recent reports that it would.

It all comes amid restructuring efforts and a series of executive departures.

That includes last week’s exit of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, long one of the firm’s most prominent faces.

None of that seems to have worried investors, who are excited by OpenAI’s growth projections.

Reuters sources say boss Sam Altman projects revenues of $3.6 billion this year, and then about three times that amount next year.

He’s expected to gain a big slice of equity in the startup as part of the restructuring.

The fundraising round may also have included steps to protect OpenAI’s advantage over competitors.

Sources say investors were asked not to put money into five rival outfits.

Among those on the banned list were Amazon-backed Anthropic.

And xAI, founded by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.

There was no comment on that report from any of the companies concerned.