OpenAI's Sam Altman Teases Major New Partnerships Following Stargate, Oracle, Nvidia, AMD Deals

In a remarkable coincidence, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was expressing surprise over OpenAI's multibillion-dollar pact with competitor AMD just as Sam Altman was signaling that more such agreements are on the way. This followed Nvidia's own commitment to invest up to $100 billion in the AI model maker.

Huang, appearing on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday, was asked if he knew about the AMD deal before its announcement. "Not really," he replied.

As previously detailed by TechCrunch, OpenAI's arrangement with AMD is unconventional. AMD will grant OpenAI significant blocks of its stock—potentially up to 10% of the company over several years, contingent on metrics like stock price increases. In return, OpenAI will utilize and help advance the chipmaker’s next-generation AI GPU technology, effectively making OpenAI an AMD shareholder.

Nvidia's deal flips this structure. Nvidia has invested directly into the AI startup, becoming a shareholder in OpenAI.

While OpenAI has long used Nvidia hardware via cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Oracle OCI, and CoreWeave, "This is the first time we’re going to sell directly to them," Huang clarified. He added that Nvidia would continue supplying those cloud partners as well.

These direct sales, encompassing AI systems and networking gear beyond just GPUs, are meant to "prepare" OpenAI for eventually becoming its own "self-hosted hyperscaler," Huang stated—in other words, operating its own data centers.

Huang acknowledged, however, that OpenAI doesn't "have the money yet" to fund all this infrastructure. He estimated each gigawatt of AI data center capacity would cost OpenAI "$50 to $60 billion," covering everything from land and power to servers and equipment.

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So far in 2025, OpenAI has secured 10 gigawatts of U.S. data center capacity through its $500 billion Stargate partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, in addition to a separate $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle.

Its partnership with Nvidia covers at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers, while the AMD agreement is for 6 gigawatts. Add to that its "Stargate UK" expansion and other European commitments, and OpenAI has reportedly inked deals worth an estimated $1 trillion this year alone.

Similar to the AMD arrangement, Nvidia's deal has been criticized by some as "circular," as reported by Bloomberg. Critics argue Nvidia is essentially financing OpenAI's purchases and receiving equity in the AI startup in return.

Altman's Message: Expect More to Come

While Huang was analyzing OpenAI's infrastructure needs on CNBC, an interview between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Andreessen Horowitz's a16z Podcast was released.

During the conversation, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz told Altman he was "very impressed by deal structure improvement," referencing these recent agreements. As an OpenAI investor, his approval is unsurprising. OpenAI has repeatedly found ways to secure billions in equipment with significant external financing.

When asked about the deals, Altman stated, "You should expect much more from us in the coming months."

Altman explained that OpenAI's future models and products are anticipated to be vastly more capable, driving unprecedented demand. This has led the company "to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet."

The challenge is that OpenAI's current revenue, while growing rapidly and reportedly reaching $4.5 billion in the first half of 2025, is not yet at the trillion-dollar scale of these investments.

Nevertheless, Altman expressed supreme confidence. "I’ve never been more confident in the research roadmap in front of us and also the economic value that will come from using those [future] models."

He admitted, however, that OpenAI cannot reach that economic potential alone.

"To make a bet at this scale, we need the whole industry, or a big chunk of the industry, to support it. This spans everything from the level of electrons to model distribution and everything in between. So we’re going to partner with a lot of people," Altman said, forecasting more deals in the months ahead.

So, tech industry, stay tuned. OpenAI's deal-making spree is far from over.