For one thing, Stargate has shown the unraveling of Microsoft and OpenAI — as explored in the intelligence factory race between AI labs — ’s partnership.
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Key Insight
However, the agreement includes an AGI clause , where Microsoft’s exclusive access to OpenAI’s technology would terminate if OpenAI achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI), generating $ 100 billion in profits.
The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI is undergoing significant changes, with Microsoft no longer serving as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider.
OpenAI now has the flexibility to collaborate with other providers, enabled by its Stargate infrastructure — as explored in the economics of AI compute infrastructure — deal with SoftBank, Oracle, and others.
Despite this shift, Microsoft retains the “right of first refusal,” allowing it to prioritize hosting OpenAI’s workloads before competitors.
Key aspects of the partnership remain intact, including OpenAI’s continued use of Azure for products and training under a long-term agreement lasting through 2030.
However, the agreement includes an AGI clause, where Microsoft’s exclusive access to OpenAI’s technology would terminate if OpenAI achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI), generating $100 billion in profits.
This evolution opens the door for potential renegotiations, as OpenAI may seek additional funding from Microsoft.
The Stargate initiative signals a broader strategy for OpenAI to diversify its infrastructure and expand its research and model-training capabilities while maintaining a collaborative relationship with Microsoft.
In the meantime, OpenAI tries to keep its dominant consumer position with its agentic move, but for the consumer.
For one thing, Stargate has shown the unraveling of Microsoft and OpenAI — as explored in the intelligence factory race between AI labs — ’s partnership.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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