In a surprising move that underscores the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence infrastructure, OpenAI has added Google Cloud to its roster of computing providers, finalizing a deal that had been under discussion for months.
The agreement, completed in May 2025, comes at a critical time for OpenAI as the company faces increasing demand for computing capacity. Since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022, OpenAI has experienced exponential growth, recently announcing that its annualized revenue run rate has surged to $10 billion as of June 2025.
This partnership represents a significant shift in OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. Until January 2025, Microsoft's Azure had served as OpenAI's exclusive data center infrastructure provider. The Google Cloud deal is part of a broader effort by OpenAI to diversify its computing resources, which includes the ambitious $500 billion Stargate Project launched in January 2025 in partnership with SoftBank and Oracle.
The collaboration is particularly noteworthy given that OpenAI's ChatGPT poses one of the biggest threats to Google's dominant search business in years. Google executives have recently acknowledged that the AI race may not be winner-take-all, signaling a pragmatic approach to competition in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
"The deal underscores how massive computing demands to train and deploy AI models are reshaping the competitive dynamics in AI," noted industry analysts. For Google Cloud, whose $43 billion in sales comprised 12% of Alphabet's 2024 revenue, securing OpenAI as a customer represents a significant win in its effort to position itself as a neutral provider of computing resources for AI companies.
In addition to the Google Cloud partnership and the Stargate Project, OpenAI has been actively expanding its infrastructure portfolio. Earlier this year, the company signed deals worth billions with CoreWeave for additional computing capacity, including a five-year contract worth $11.9 billion in March and an additional $4 billion agreement announced in May 2025.