Amazon Might Invest Up To $50 Billion In OpenAI

Amazon is in discussions to invest as much as $50 billion in OpenAI, according to a Reuters report on 30th January. CEO Andy Jassy is leading negotiations as OpenAI attempts to raise approximately $100 billion total.

The proposed investment comes as OpenAI faces mounting competition from rivals Anthropic and Google. In December, OpenAI issued an internal "code red" alert after Google's Gemini 3 received favorable reviews. OpenAI is now working to catch up in AI coding capabilities with Anthropic's Claude Code, which has achieved an annualized run rate exceeding $1 billion.

The funding round also involves discussions with SoftBank, which is exploring an additional investment of up to $30 billion. Together with existing discussions involving Microsoft, Nvidia, and others, these negotiations represent unprecedented capital mobilization around a single AI company.

OpenAI is also planning a fourth-quarter initial public offering (IPO) in a race to beat Anthropic to the public markets. The startup remains unprofitable despite generating significant revenue through its API and ChatGPT subscriptions.

Microsoft, OpenAI's longtime backer, faces investor scrutiny after its Azure growth disappointed. The company has approximately $280 billion at stake in its relationship with OpenAI, creating concentration risk as the startup struggles to maintain its competitive edge.