OPENAI and Microsoft have announced the signing of a Memorandum of understanding not restrictiveintended to supervise the “next phase” of their partnership. This text marks a break after almost a year of tense negotiations between the two groups, without however deciding on major friction points.
While the discussions have been about the exclusivity of the Cloud Azure for months to host models, the sharing of income generated by Chatgpt applications, and Microsoft’s access to the intellectual property of Openai, the announced protocol does not settle any of these aspects, but allows the two parties to continue working together towards a final agreement by the end of the year.
This truce comes while Optai is engaged in a conversion into public Benefit Corporation (PBC). This hybrid structure must allow it to raise massive capital while displaying a mission of public interest. The non -profit association which founded Openai would retain strategic control and directly hold a valued participation at more than $ 100 billion, between 20 % and 30 % of the capital.
Microsoft, which has invested nearly 13 billion since 2019, has been expected at around 30 % of the capital, or nearly 170 billion, based on an Openai valuation estimated at $ 500 billion established during a secondary sale of shares to employees this summer. The rest will be shared between other investors like SoftBank, as well as employees and co -founders including Sam Altman.
But beyond governance issues, it is the industrial dimension that explains the pressure to recapitalize. OPENAI has just seal a contract of $ 300 billion over five years with Oracle, to build a Data Centers infrastructure and secure the energy supply essential to its models. This project, which must start in 2027, far exceeds the traditional financing capacities of a startup, and is one of the reasons why the OPENAI IPO now seems essential.
To maintain its lead in the AGS race, OpenAI must consolidate its financial partnerships and the securing of energy and cloud infrastructure on an industrial scale. The agreements formed with Microsoft and Oracle install the company in a market logic, with an IPO in line which could redefine the balance of world tech. It remains to be seen how Elon Musk will react to these movements.
