Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, talking with CNBC on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2026.
CNBC
Amazon is in talks to speculate as much as $50 billion in OpenAI, CNBC confirmed on Thursday, in a big vote of confidence from the e-commerce large after it invested in one of many startup’s greatest rivals.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy have been participating in direct discussions, in accordance with a supply accustomed to the matter who requested to not be named as a result of the main points are confidential.
Amazon has pumped billions of {dollars} into OpenAI competitor Anthropic since 2023.
The main points of Amazon’s talks with OpenAI are nonetheless fluid and the ultimate complete is topic to vary, however the time period sheet might be signed within the coming weeks, the individual mentioned.
A consultant for Amazon declined to remark. The Wall Road Journal was the primary to report the $50 billion determine.
OpenAI can also be participating in fundraising discussions with different buyers, and the whole spherical may shut at round $100 billion, the individual mentioned. Altman was within the United Arab Emirates to take part in funding talks with sovereign wealth funds final week, as CNBC beforehand reported.
The startup’s funding spherical may shut in two components, starting with investments from strategics like Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia, the individual mentioned. Different contributions from contributors like SoftBank, which is in talks to speculate as much as $30 billion in OpenAI, would comply with, the supply mentioned.
The startup was based as a nonprofit analysis lab in 2015, and exploded onto the mainstream in 2022 after launching its generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. OpenAI has grown into one of many largest industrial entities on the planet, and its valuation swelled to $500 billion in October after it finalized a secondary share sale.
Amazon and OpenAI have been in talks a couple of potential funding since final 12 months, and the ultimate deal may embody an settlement to make use of Amazon’s AI chips, as CNBC beforehand reported.
Anthropic was based by a gaggle of former OpenAI executives and researchers, together with CEO Dario Amodei, in 2021. The corporate is finest recognized for its household of AI fashions referred to as Claude, and it closed a multibillion-dollar funding spherical at a $350 billion valuation earlier this month.
Amazon Net Providers was named Anthropic’s main cloud supplier in 2023 and its main coaching accomplice in 2024. It continues to serve in each of these roles.
Amazon has been reducing prices throughout its enterprise to speculate extra in AI and the fast build-out of information facilities.
On Wednesday, Amazon introduced it could minimize about 16,000 company staff, marking its second spherical of mass job cuts since final October.
Final October, Amazon opened an $11 billion knowledge middle campus for Anthropic in Indiana, referred to as Challenge Rainier.
Amazon mentioned that very same month that it expects capital expenditures to achieve $125 billion for 2026, the highest spending forecast among the many megacap corporations on the time.
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