OpenAI is reportedly in talks with Amazon regarding a potential investment and a deal to utilize Amazon’s artificial intelligence chips.
While the discussions are ongoing and details may change, a source familiar with the matter, indicated that the investment could surpass $10 billion, according to CNBC.
The Information was the first to report on the possible arrangement.
The talks with Amazon follow OpenAI’s October restructuring, which also formalized its partnership with Microsoft and provided the company greater flexibility to raise capital and collaborate with other players in the AI ecosystem.
Since 2019, Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI.
However, under the October agreement, it no longer holds the right of first refusal to be OpenAI’s compute provider, and OpenAI is now permitted to develop certain products with third-party partners.
Amazon has already invested at least $8 billion in OpenAI competitor Anthropic, but the company may be seeking to broaden its stake in the rapidly growing generative AI market. Microsoft made a similar move last month, announcing plans to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, while Nvidia is set to invest up to $10 billion in the startup.
Amazon Web Services has been developing its own AI chips since around 2015, and this hardware has become increasingly critical for AI companies training models and handling rising compute demands.
AWS introduced its Inferentia chips in 2018 and unveiled the latest generation of its Trainium chips earlier this month.
Last month, OpenAI signed its first contract with cloud infrastructure leader AWS, agreeing to purchase $38 billion worth of computing capacity.

