OpenAI caps Microsoft revenue share

OpenAI and Microsoft rewrote their alliance on Monday, capping OpenAI’s payments to Microsoft and ending Microsoft’s exclusive license to OpenAI technology. (cnbc.com) Under the new terms, OpenAI will keep paying Microsoft a 20% revenue share through 2030, but those payments are now subject to a total cap, CNBC reported. Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share back to OpenAI. (cnbc.com) Microsoft still gets a license to OpenAI intellectual property through 2032, but that license is now non-exclusive. The two companies also said AGI milestones will no longer determine whether the revenue-sharing arrangement continues. (cnbc.com) (businessinsider.com) The cloud terms changed, too. Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud provider, and OpenAI products will launch on Azure first unless Microsoft cannot or chooses not to provide the needed capacity. (businessinsider.com) (cnbc.com) At the same time, OpenAI can now serve all of its products to customers across any cloud provider, including rivals such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. OpenAI revenue chief Denise Dresser said earlier this month that the old setup had “limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are.” (cnbc.com) This is the second major rewrite in about six months. In October 2025, when OpenAI completed its recapitalization, Microsoft said it would hold roughly 27% of OpenAI Group PBC and OpenAI committed to buy an incremental $250 billion of Azure services. (cnbc.com) That October deal had already loosened Microsoft’s grip by removing its first right of refusal to be OpenAI’s compute provider. Monday’s agreement goes further by making Microsoft’s license non-exclusive and formalizing OpenAI’s ability to sell across other clouds. (cnbc.com 1) (cnbc.com 2) OpenAI had also been telling investors that reliance on Microsoft was a business risk. In a March 23 financing document reviewed by CNBC, OpenAI said Microsoft supplied “a substantial portion of our financing and compute.” (cnbc.com) Business Insider said the old exclusivity terms had become a live dispute as OpenAI pursued outside cloud deals, including a reported Amazon arrangement that had raised legal tensions with Microsoft. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called Monday’s reset a “net positive” for Microsoft because it preserves years of IP access while ending the public back-and-forth. (businessinsider.com) The result is a partnership that still ties OpenAI to Azure, but on narrower and more explicit terms than the one Microsoft backed with more than $13 billion since 2019. (cnbc.com)