OpenAI signed a $38 billion, seven-year partnership to run core AI workloads on Amazon Web Services, a move that immediately expands its access to cutting‑edge computing power and reshapes competitive dynamics in the AI cloud market. The announcement on November 3, 2025, sent Amazon shares higher as investors cheered a marquee win for AWS. See coverage from Reuters and the companies’ statements from OpenAI and Amazon.
Under the multi‑year deal, OpenAI will start using AWS immediately, with all planned capacity targeted to be online by the end of 2026 and room to expand into 2027 and beyond. The agreement gives OpenAI access to “hundreds of thousands” of Nvidia GPUs via Amazon EC2 UltraServers, plus the ability to scale to tens of millions of CPUs as its agentic and generative AI workloads grow, according to the companies. OpenAI and Amazon.
Amazon shares rose about 5% to a record high after the announcement, reflecting renewed confidence in AWS’s ability to win flagship AI customers as rivals Microsoft and Google jostle for cloud leadership. Reuters.
The pact underscores the industry’s escalating demand for compute to train and run ever larger AI models. It also follows corporate changes at OpenAI that gave the company more latitude to diversify its infrastructure beyond a single provider. OpenAI’s immediate use of AWS broadens its multi‑cloud strategy while letting it tap massive GPU clusters designed for low‑latency, large‑scale AI operations. AP; Reuters.
The deal arrives amid questions about how frontier AI developers will finance enormous infrastructure needs. Reuters reports that OpenAI leadership has discussed long‑term spending plans measured in the trillions of dollars for compute and energy, even as revenue climbs. For AWS, landing OpenAI is a marquee validation of its AI infrastructure at a time when hyperscalers are racing to secure GPU supply and enterprise AI workloads. Reuters.
OpenAI and AWS say initial capacity is already online, with broader deployment due before December 2026 and potential expansion in 2027 and beyond. Watch for additional cloud, chip, and energy partnerships as OpenAI scales—and for how rivals respond to keep pace. Amazon; OpenAI.