Amazon enters OpenAI race, challenging Google and Microsoft’s AI grip
Amazon is reportedly in discussions to invest in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in a potential deal that could value the artificial intelligence company at more than $500 billion — a figure comparable to the market capitalizations of global energy and automotive giants.
As reported by News.Az, citing Reuters, Amazon is considering an investment of around $10 billion, although the talks remain at an early and fluid stage with no agreement finalized.
The timing of the discussions is significant. OpenAI is laying the groundwork for a future initial public offering, which could ultimately value the company at up to $1 trillion, according to earlier Reuters reporting. For comparison, Microsoft required nearly five decades to reach a similar valuation, while OpenAI, founded in 2015, may approach that threshold in under 10 years, underscoring the unprecedented pace of value creation in the generative AI sector.
OpenAI’s financial trajectory helps explain investor interest. Analysts estimate the company generated more than $3 billion in revenue in 2024, driven primarily by subscriptions, enterprise licenses, and API access. ChatGPT now has over 180 million monthly active users globally, while demand from corporate clients, including banks, pharmaceutical firms, and consulting companies, continues to accelerate.
The prospective Amazon investment also reflects a broader shift in OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft currently owns approximately 27% of OpenAI and has invested more than $13 billion in the company, securing exclusive rights to distribute OpenAI models through its Azure cloud platform. However, in 2024 OpenAI restructured itself as a public benefit corporation controlled by a non-profit entity with a financial stake in its success. This change eased earlier restrictions on fundraising and computing access, allowing OpenAI to pursue partnerships beyond Microsoft.
These structural changes come amid rapidly rising infrastructure costs across the AI industry. According to McKinsey, training and operating state-of-the-art generative AI models requires annual investments running into tens of billions of dollars. In 2024 alone, global capital spending by hyperscalers on data centers and AI hardware exceeded $200 billion, highlighting why access to alternative cloud platforms and chips has become strategically critical.
According to The Information, OpenAI is exploring the use of Amazon’s Trainium AI chips, positioning them as competitors to Nvidia’s dominant accelerators and Google’s TPU architecture. Amazon claims that Trainium delivers up to 40% better price performance than comparable Nvidia solutions. This is particularly notable at a time when Nvidia’s H100 chips, priced between $25,000 and $40,000 per unit, have become a major bottleneck in global AI development.
For Amazon, the potential deal carries major strategic implications. AWS generated more than $90 billion in revenue in 2024, but growth has slowed compared with previous years. A deeper partnership with OpenAI could reinvigorate AWS’s expansion and strengthen its position against Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, both of which are aggressively scaling their own AI platforms, models, and proprietary chips.
OpenAI is also reportedly considering the sale of an enterprise version of ChatGPT to Amazon. While it remains unclear whether the talks include direct integration of ChatGPT features — such as AI-powered shopping assistants — into Amazon’s consumer apps, the commercial potential is substantial. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that the global enterprise AI market could exceed $300 billion by 2030, with retail, logistics, and advertising among the most lucrative application areas.
Neither Amazon, OpenAI, nor Microsoft has commented publicly on the reported discussions. Nevertheless, the scale of the potential investment and the technologies involved point to a deeper realignment within Big Tech.
As competition intensifies among cloud providers and chipmakers, a deal of this magnitude would signal Amazon’s intention to move beyond its traditional role as an infrastructure supplier and assert itself as a central force in shaping the future of generative AI, directly challenging the established dominance of the Microsoft–Google axis.
By Samir Veliyev
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