Massive AI infrastructure shift underway
OpenAI has inked a $38 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking a major expansion of its cloud partnerships and the end of its previous exclusivity with Microsoft. The deal, announced Monday, grants OpenAI immediate access to AWS’s infrastructure, including hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs across U.S. data centers. Future expansion will involve new infrastructure purpose-built by Amazon.
Amazon’s stock surged 4% after the announcement, reaching an all-time high. The tech giant is now up 14% over the past two sessions, its best two-day run since November 2022.
Strategic pivot after Microsoft exclusivity ends
This is OpenAI’s first formal contract with AWS and comes just after Microsoft’s preferential status expired. Microsoft had invested $13 billion in OpenAI and was until recently its exclusive cloud provider. As of last week, that exclusivity is over, giving OpenAI the freedom to diversify partnerships across hyperscalers.
AWS now joins a growing list of OpenAI cloud collaborators, which includes Oracle and Google. However, AWS’s dominance in cloud infrastructure gives this deal added significance. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, “Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute. Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”
Capacity, chips, and long-term buildouts
The deal initially draws on existing AWS data centers, with plans to construct additional capacity tailored to OpenAI’s needs. AWS VP Dave Brown clarified, “It’s completely separate capacity that we’re putting down. Some of it is already online, and OpenAI is using it.”
OpenAI’s current workloads will utilize Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs, but future expansions may integrate other chips, including Amazon’s custom Trainium processors. While Trainium is being used by Anthropic — another leading AI firm backed by Amazon — Brown declined to confirm whether OpenAI will adopt it.
The infrastructure will serve both training and inference purposes, such as powering ChatGPT’s real-time outputs and developing future models. The agreement allows expansion over the next seven years, with no firm commitments beyond 2026.
Positioning for IPO and AI leadership
This move is part of OpenAI’s broader strategy to prepare for a public listing. Altman recently said an IPO is “the most likely path” due to OpenAI’s capital needs. CFO Sarah Friar added that the company’s internal restructuring aligns with that goal.
OpenAI has recently signed a wave of high-value agreements with firms like Nvidia, Broadcom, Oracle, and Google, estimated to total $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments. Critics have warned of an AI bubble, but OpenAI continues to lock in long-term deals.
While OpenAI will still spend heavily with Microsoft — pledging an additional $250 billion in Azure services — its new relationship with AWS solidifies its position as a multi-cloud AI powerhouse. Monday’s announcement formalized this shift: “As part of this deal, OpenAI is a customer of AWS,” Brown confirmed. “They’ve committed to buying compute capacity from us, and we’re charging for it. It’s very straightforward.”
