Amazon Invests Additional $50B in OpenAI, Now Owns 5% Stake

Amazon has completed its investment of $50 billion in OpenAI, as agreed in February, after OpenAI met certain performance targets, including breakthroughs in AI systems development. As a result, Amazon now owns approximately 5% of OpenAI's capital. The companies have also signed multiple agreements covering semiconductor supplies and compute capacity leasing, with OpenAI providing its AI models to Amazon. The final tranche of the investment was received this week. The investment agreement was reached in April after OpenAI gained the right to use other cloud providers' capacities, not prioritizing Microsoft. Microsoft initially considered contesting the agreement but revised its contract terms with OpenAI. Meanwhile, Amazon also collaborates with Anthropic, a rival startup founded by former OpenAI employees, investing $18 billion so far, potentially increasing to $33 billion. Both startups receive AWS's custom Trainium chips.