OpenAI Strikes $38 Billion Cloud Partnership with Amazon to Expand AI Computing Power
Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has entered a $38 billion (£29 billion) cloud computing agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking one of the largest technology partnerships of 2025 and a major step in diversifying its computing infrastructure beyond Microsoft.
The seven-year deal grants OpenAI access to Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) hosted on Amazon’s cloud network, enabling the company to train and scale its advanced AI models more efficiently.
“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” said Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”
The move comes just a week after OpenAI underwent a major corporate restructuring, shifting away from its original non-profit model and redefining its long-standing relationship with Microsoft. The restructuring gave OpenAI greater financial and operational independence, paving the way for broader collaborations with other technology giants.
OpenAI’s latest deal adds to a series of multi-billion-dollar agreements the company has sealed this year, including partnerships with Oracle, Broadcom, AMD, and Nvidia, collectively worth more than $1 trillion.
Industry analysts say the Amazon deal highlights the surging global demand for computing resources to power the next generation of AI systems. “OpenAI’s path to leadership depends on securing as much computing power as possible,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners. She noted that Microsoft’s reduced control over OpenAI has opened the door for new alliances with its competitors.
OpenAI, which rose to prominence with the release of ChatGPT in 2022, had relied heavily on Microsoft’s cloud platform for model training and deployment. Their exclusive cloud partnership ended in January 2025, allowing OpenAI to diversify its infrastructure strategy.
Despite its rapid growth, the company remains unprofitable, with Microsoft’s recent financial disclosures indicating that OpenAI recorded a $12 billion loss last quarter due to the immense costs of AI research and data processing.
Following news of the partnership, Amazon shares surged to a record high, boosting its market capitalization by $140 billion (£106 billion).
“AWS is uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s vast AI workloads,” said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services.
The announcement adds to a growing network of interconnected AI investments among major tech companies – a trend that has drawn scrutiny from regulators and economists amid warnings of a potential AI market bubble.
Speaking to the BBC last month, Altman acknowledged the scale of these investments but defended the company’s strategy: “Yes, the investment loans are unprecedented. But so is the speed at which AI companies are growing revenue.”
Financial leaders including the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund, and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon have cautioned that the surge in AI-related spending could heighten market uncertainty in the coming years.
