OpenAI-Microsoft IP deal expands cloud

OpenAI and Microsoft rewrote their partnership on April 27, ending Microsoft’s exclusive rights to OpenAI technology and opening OpenAI products to any cloud. (openai.com) (blogs.microsoft.com) Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, and OpenAI said its products will still ship first on Azure unless Microsoft cannot support the needed capabilities. (openai.com) (blogs.microsoft.com) The contract now gives Microsoft a non-exclusive license to OpenAI models and products through 2032. Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI. (openai.com) (blogs.microsoft.com) OpenAI will keep paying Microsoft a revenue share through 2030, at the same percentage as before, but with a total cap. CNBC, citing a person familiar with the terms, reported that percentage is 20%. (cnbc.com) (openai.com) The rewrite changes a deal that had tied OpenAI closely to Azure since Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in 2023. Monday’s language replaces exclusivity with a timed license and explicit multi-cloud distribution rights. (blogs.microsoft.com) (openai.com) That matters because OpenAI signed a separate strategic partnership with Amazon on February 27. OpenAI and Amazon said AWS will host a Stateful Runtime Environment on Amazon Bedrock and serve as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier. (openai.com) Amazon said it will invest $50 billion in OpenAI, starting with $15 billion upfront and another $35 billion if conditions are met. OpenAI also said it plans to consume 2 gigawatts of AWS Trainium capacity. (openai.com) CNBC reported Andy Jassy said on X that AWS will begin offering OpenAI models through Bedrock in the next few weeks. That would put OpenAI software on Amazon’s cloud while Azure remains the first-stop launch partner. (cnbc.com) (blogs.microsoft.com) Microsoft said the companies will keep working together on data-center capacity, next-generation silicon and cybersecurity. So the change is not a breakup; it is a narrower, more explicit contract for a partnership that now stretches across more than one cloud. (blogs.microsoft.com)