Artificial intelligence research company OpenAI has signed one of the largest cloud contracts in history, committing to purchase $300 billion worth of computing power over five years from Oracle.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the deal highlights the escalating costs of AI infrastructure as demand for advanced data processing continues to soar.
People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the agreement will require 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, a scale that has been compared to the power generated by more than two Hoover Dams or the energy consumption of about four million homes.
This commitment far exceeds OpenAI’s current revenue base and reflects the enormous financial and technical resources needed to support large-scale AI models.
Backstory
In June 2024, OpenAI announced that it was expanding its partnership with Microsoft and Oracle to boost its computing capacity.
The deal extended Microsoft’s Azure AI platform to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), giving OpenAI access to additional computing power to meet the growing demand for ChatGPT
The infrastructure allows training on as many as 64,000 NVIDIA GPUs or Grace Blackwell Superchips, connected through ultra-low-latency networking, with flexible storage and compute options. This capability is designed to handle the immense workloads required for generative AI, natural language processing, and advanced machine learning applications.
Record fortune jump
Nairametrics reported that Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and chairman, has overtaken Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person after a historic surge in Oracle’s stock.
The rally, which sent the company’s shares up by more than 39% on Wednesday, lifted Ellison’s net worth by over $101 billion in a single day, the largest one-day increase ever recorded by Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Ellison now holds a net worth of $405 billion, driven by his 41% stake in Oracle, equivalent to about 1.16 billion shares. This leap placed him ahead of Musk, whose fortune stands at $384 billion following a decline in Tesla’s stock this year.
At 81, Ellison’s return to the number one spot marks a dramatic moment in financial history, not only reshaping the billionaire leaderboard but also cementing Oracle’s resurgence as a central player in the artificial intelligence and cloud computing boom.
Oracle disclosed in its quarterly earnings that it added $317 billion in future contract revenue in the period ending August 31.
What you should know
The size of this contract underlines how spending on AI data centers has reached unprecedented levels, even as some analysts warn of overheating in the sector.
The deal demonstrates both the rising demand for computational capacity and the strategic positioning of Oracle as a major player in AI cloud infrastructure.
For OpenAI, it represents a long-term bet on scaling up its computing power despite its revenue lagging far behind such a massive commitment. Oracle strengthens its place in the competitive cloud market, boosting investor sentiment and driving a sharp increase in its stock performance.
