OpenAI in Talks With Amazon Over $10B Deal and Trainium Chip Access

OpenAI is holding advanced discussions with Amazon over a potential investment valued at around $10 billion, a deal that would deepen ties between the ChatGPT maker and the world’s largest cloud provider while reshaping competition in AI infrastructure.

The talks, which remain unresolved, place OpenAI’s valuation near $500 billion, according to reporting that cites individuals aware of the negotiations. The proposed agreement would also give OpenAI access to Amazon’s Trainium AI chips, expanding its computing options beyond Nvidia’s dominant hardware.

Such access would be a significant boost for Amazon’s semiconductor ambitions. While Nvidia still controls the bulk of the AI accelerator market, Amazon has invested heavily in Trainium to reduce reliance on external chip suppliers and attract large AI developers to its cloud platform.

A continuation of deepening ties

The discussions follow a major agreement signed in November, when OpenAI committed to purchasing $38 billion in computing capacity from Amazon Web Services. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman described that deal at the time as necessary to secure large-scale, dependable compute for future growth.

Since completing a corporate restructuring in October, OpenAI has moved quickly to lock in capital and infrastructure partnerships. That restructuring was designed to give the company more flexibility in negotiating large strategic investments rather than relying on a single backer.

OpenAI has since announced or entered into infrastructure and funding arrangements totaling more than $1.4 trillion in commitments, involving chipmakers such as Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom. The scale of those agreements has drawn attention to how aggressively the company is securing long-term compute supply.

Pressure on the AI investment cycle

The pace of dealmaking has revived concerns about excess spending across the AI sector, particularly where capital investment appears disconnected from near-term revenue. Those concerns sharpened last week after Oracle shares dropped sharply following earnings that highlighted rising AI-related costs without matching returns.

A potential Amazon investment would further concentrate OpenAI’s relationships with major infrastructure providers, while also positioning Amazon more directly against Microsoft, which remains OpenAI’s largest strategic partner through Azure.

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