OpenAI Teams with Amazon on $38B Cloud Deal

Published Date : 04/11/2025 

OpenAI has entered a $38 billion deal with Amazon to leverage AWS datacenters and Nvidia chips, significantly boosting its AI capabilities and infrastructure. 

OpenAI has signed a $38 billion (£29 billion) deal to use Amazon infrastructure to operate its artificial intelligence products, as part of a broader $1.4 trillion spending spree on computing power. This agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) will enable OpenAI to utilize AWS datacenters and the Nvidia chips inside them immediately.

The deal is a significant step in OpenAI's strategy to scale its AI capabilities. Last week, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, announced that the company had committed to spending $1.4 trillion on AI infrastructure, amid concerns over the sustainability of the boom in using and building datacenters. These datacenters are the central nervous systems of AI tools such as ChatGPT.

“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” Altman said on Monday. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.” OpenAI will gain access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processors to train and run its AI models. Amazon plans to use the chips in data clusters that will power ChatGPT’s responses and train OpenAI’s next wave of models, the companies said.

Matt Garman, the CEO of AWS, expressed confidence in OpenAI's ambitions, stating that Amazon’s infrastructure would serve as a backbone for these endeavors. OpenAI is committed to developing 30 gigawatts of computing resources, which is enough to power roughly 25 million US homes.

Last week, OpenAI converted its main business into a for-profit corporation as part of a reorganization that valued the startup at $500 billion. Microsoft, a longtime backer, will have a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI’s new for-profit corporation. The race for computing power by AI companies has raised concerns among some market watchers about how it will be financed. OpenAI’s annual revenue is about $13 billion, according to the Financial Times, a figure dwarfed by its $1.4 trillion infrastructure commitment. Other datacenter deals signed by OpenAI include a $300 billion agreement with the US company Oracle.

During a podcast appearance with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Altman addressed spending concerns, saying “enough” to a question from the host, US investor Brad Gerstner, about the gap between OpenAI’s revenue and its infrastructure commitments. Altman claimed that OpenAI makes “well more” revenue than the reported $13 billion, without specifying a number. He added, “I think there’s a lot of people who would love to buy OpenAI shares.”

Analysts at the US investment bank Morgan Stanley estimate that global spending on datacenters will reach nearly $3 trillion between now and 2028. They predict that half of this spending will be covered by the big US tech companies, with the rest coming from sources such as the private credit market, a growing part of the shadow banking sector that is raising concerns at the Bank of England and elsewhere. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS): 

Q: What is the total amount of the deal between OpenAI and Amazon?

A: The deal between OpenAI and Amazon is worth $38 billion (£29 billion).

Q: What will OpenAI gain access to through this deal?

A: OpenAI will gain access to AWS datacenters and hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processors to train and run its AI models.

Q: What is the purpose of these datacenters for OpenAI?

A: These datacenters will power ChatGPT’s responses and train OpenAI’s next wave of models, serving as the central nervous systems of AI tools.

Q: What is the estimated global spending on datacenters by 2028?

A: Global spending on datacenters is estimated to reach nearly $3 trillion by 2028.

Q: What is the current annual revenue of OpenAI?

A: OpenAI’s annual revenue is about $13 billion, according to the Financial Times, though CEO Sam Altman claims it is higher. 

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