OpenAI has signed a $38 billion, multiyear agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking its first direct contract with the leading cloud provider and reducing reliance on Microsoft. The deal grants OpenAI access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs in U.S. data centers, with plans to expand capacity over the coming years. The first phase will use existing AWS infrastructure, while Amazon will eventually build additional dedicated capacity for OpenAI workloads.
Until earlier this year, Microsoft held exclusive cloud rights for OpenAI, investing $13 billion since 2019. That arrangement ended in January, allowing OpenAI to partner more broadly with other hyperscalers, including AWS, Oracle, and Google. OpenAI will continue to purchase Azure services, including an incremental $250 billion in cloud capacity.
The agreement reflects OpenAI’s rapid expansion, following roughly $1.4 trillion in prior buildout agreements with Nvidia, Broadcom, Oracle, and Google. AWS Vice President Dave Brown confirmed the capacity is separate and immediately available. Amazon stock rose about 5% after the announcement, underscoring the market impact of the startup’s growing demand for high-performance AI infrastructure.
