Thinking Machines, the AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is negotiating to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, TechCrunch reported. Existing investor Accel is expected to lead the round. If completed, the financing would more than triple the company’s previous $12 billion valuation from a $2 billion funding round, while falling below the $50 billion valuation reportedly targeted late last year. Thinking Machines launched the open-weight Inkling model in July and monetizes compute through usage-based fees on its Tinker platform. Its annualized revenue has surpassed $100 million. Several co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, have since returned to OpenAI.