OpenAI Ends Exclusivity with Microsoft, Goes Multi-Cloud with AWS and Google Cloud
OpenAI and Microsoft restructured their partnership on April 28, allowing OpenAI to sell its models across any cloud provider including AWS and Google Cloud. The deal scraps Azure exclusivity and removes the controversial AGI milestone trigger while OpenAI continues paying Microsoft revenue share through 2030 under a capped structure.
Partnership Overhaul
Microsoft and OpenAI announced a sweeping overhaul of the partnership that has defined the commercial AI era, dismantling key pillars of exclusivity and revenue-sharing that bound the two companies together for years and replacing them with a looser, time-limited arrangement that gives both sides far more freedom to pursue rival relationships.
Key Terms
Revenue Changes: Microsoft will no longer pay any revenue share to OpenAI when customers access OpenAI models through Azure. OpenAI will continue paying a revenue share to Microsoft through 2030 at the same 20 percent rate, but that obligation is now subject to a total cap.
Cloud Freedom: OpenAI can now serve all of its products to customers on any cloud provider — including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud — ending the exclusivity that had been a cornerstone of the original deal.
Intellectual Property: Microsoft retains a license to OpenAI's intellectual property for models and products through 2032, but that license is now explicitly non-exclusive.
Market Impact
Amazon and OpenAI are poised to quickly capitalize on the change, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saying 'We're excited to make OpenAI's models available directly to customers on Bedrock in the coming weeks.' The change could ease investor concerns ahead of the company's expected IPO later this year.