OpenAI has entered into a significant $38 billion agreement with Amazon to leverage its cloud computing infrastructure, marking the continuation of the AI firm’s strategic partnerships aimed at securing substantial computing resources.
The ChatGPT developer’s activity in 2025 includes deals valued at over $1 trillion with companies like Oracle, Broadcom, AMD, and Nvidia. The latest agreement with Amazon is expected to diversify its computing infrastructure and reduce its reliance on Microsoft.
Under the seven-year contract, OpenAI will gain access to Nvidia’s advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) to facilitate the training of its increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence models.
The Amazon deal follows a recent restructuring of OpenAI, which involved a shift away from its non-profit status and a revised relationship with Microsoft, granting OpenAI greater operational and financial independence.
“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” stated Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO.
“Our partnership with AWS [Amazon Web Services] strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”
This deal underscores the escalating demand for computing power driven by the expanding interest in artificial intelligence, and OpenAI’s proactive measures to secure the necessary resources.
OpenAI, responsible for bringing AI into mainstream consumer use with ChatGPT in 2022, has historically relied on Microsoft for its computing needs. The two companies maintained an exclusive cloud agreement until January of this year, after which their relationship was adjusted.
The agreement with Amazon’s AWS signifies a strategic pivot by the AI innovator towards diversifying its computing power sources and reducing its dependency on Microsoft.
“The deal with AWS shows that OpenAI considers that its path to leadership is paved with getting access to as much computing power as it can get its hands on,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners.
She added that Microsoft “taking less of a control stake in the company has allowed relationships with near competitors to OpenAI’s funders possible.”
Despite these partnerships, OpenAI has yet to achieve profitability due to significant investments in AI technology development. Recent quarterly results from Microsoft indicated a $12 billion loss for OpenAI in the last quarter alone.
Following the announcement of the Amazon deal on Monday, Amazon’s shares reached a record high, increasing the company’s valuation by $140 billion.
According to Matt Garman, CEO of AWS, the company is “uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s vast AI workloads.”
The AI sector has seen considerable cross-investment among leading firms, creating a complex network of agreements that has attracted increased scrutiny, with OpenAI positioned at the center.
The flurry of deal-making activity by OpenAI has led to some speculation about a potential bubble forming within the AI industry.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Sam Altman acknowledged that “the investment loans are unprecedented,” but also noted that “it’s also unprecedented for companies to be growing revenue this fast.”
Warnings have been issued by the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund, and JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon, who stated that “the level of uncertainty should be higher in most people’s minds” regarding the current AI investment landscape.