OpenAI’s Sam Altman Teases More Major Deals After Big Tech Partnerships

OpenAI’s Sam Altman has signaled that more major technology partnerships are forthcoming, following a series of high-profile agreements with industry giants like AMD and Nvidia. This aggressive infrastructure expansion aims to support the development of next-generation AI models, which Altman believes will unlock unprecedented economic value.

In a recent CNBC interview, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressed surprise upon learning about OpenAI’s arrangement with competitor AMD. The AMD deal is structured uniquely, granting OpenAI substantial AMD stock, potentially up to 10% of the company over time, in return for OpenAI’s commitment to utilize and help advance AMD’s upcoming AI GPU chips. This effectively makes OpenAI a significant shareholder in AMD.

Conversely, Nvidia’s arrangement involves the chipmaker investing directly in OpenAI, thereby becoming a shareholder in the AI startup. Huang noted that while OpenAI has long used Nvidia hardware through cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, this marks the first instance of Nvidia selling equipment directly to OpenAI. These direct sales encompass a full suite of AI infrastructure, including systems and networking gear, intended to prepare OpenAI to eventually operate as its own self-hosted hyperscaler using proprietary data centers.

However, Huang candidly acknowledged that OpenAI currently lacks the capital to fully fund these ambitious infrastructure projects. He estimated that each gigawatt of AI data center capacity could cost between $50 and $60 billion, covering expenses from land and power to servers and equipment.

So far in 2025, OpenAI has committed to an enormous infrastructure build-out. Through its $500 billion Stargate partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, it has commissioned 10 gigawatts of U.S. data center facilities. Additional agreements include a $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle, a partnership with Nvidia for at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers, and a separate arrangement with AMD for 6 gigawatts. The company is also expanding its footprint in the UK and Europe through initiatives like Stargate UK. Collectively, these deals are valued at an estimated $1 trillion for the year.

Some critics, as reported by Bloomberg, have labeled these agreements as “circular,” arguing that Nvidia is essentially financing OpenAI’s purchases in exchange for equity in the startup.

Meanwhile, during an appearance on the a16z Podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed the company’s strategic direction with Ben Horowitz, co-founder of a16z, an OpenAI investor. Horowitz praised the innovative structure of these recent deals, which enable OpenAI to secure billions of dollars in infrastructure using partners’ capital.

When questioned about future plans, Altman confirmed that more announcements should be expected in the coming months. He explained that the company’s future AI models and products are projected to be significantly more capable, driving much higher demand. This anticipated surge has led OpenAI to make what he termed “a very aggressive infrastructure bet.”

A significant challenge remains: OpenAI’s current revenue, while growing rapidly and reportedly reaching $4.5 billion in the first half of 2025, is still far from the trillion-dollar scale of these infrastructure commitments. Despite this, Altman expressed strong confidence in both the research roadmap and the economic potential of future AI models.

He emphasized that achieving this vision requires broad industry support. “To make the bet at this scale we kind of need the whole industry, or a big chunk of the industry, to support it,” Altman stated. He detailed that this collaboration must span from fundamental components like electrons all the way to model distribution. Consequently, the company plans to partner extensively with numerous organizations in the months ahead, indicating that its period of active deal-making is far from over.

(Source: TechCrunch)