Prime Highlights:
- Amazon is in talks to invest in OpenAI, signaling growing interest in the technology market.
- OpenAI can now work with multiple partners and use computing resources from providers beyond Microsoft.
Key Facts:
- Amazon has already invested $8 billion in OpenAI rival Anthropic.
- OpenAI recently spent over $1.4 trillion on infrastructure and signed a $38 billion contract with AWS.
Background:
OpenAI is in discussions with Amazon regarding a potential investment that could exceed $10 billion, alongside a strategic agreement to use Amazon’s artificial intelligence chips. The talks are ongoing and the final terms, including the size of the investment, remain subject to change.
According to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions, the proposed investment has not been finalized and could evolve as negotiations continue. The Information first reported on the potential deal.
The talks follow OpenAI’s recent restructuring, completed in October, which clarified the terms of its long-standing partnership with Microsoft. Under the revised arrangement, OpenAI gained greater flexibility to raise capital independently and collaborate with multiple partners across the artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI since backing the company in 2019, no longer holds the right of first refusal to be OpenAI’s exclusive compute provider.
Amazon is interested in OpenAI and has already invested $8 billion in its competitor Anthropic. Other tech leaders are making similar moves: Microsoft plans to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, and Nvidia has committed up to $10 billion.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been creating its own computing chips for nearly ten years. AWS chips help run large-scale models. The company launched Inferentia in 2018 and the latest Trainium chips this month.
If Amazon invests, it would grow OpenAI’s partnerships and increase competition among major tech companies.
