Amazon in talks to invest up to USD50b in OpenAI: WSJ
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The news: Amazon is reportedly in discussions to invest up to USD50 billion in OpenAI, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the talks are being led by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The context: The form of the deal may still change, but such an investment would make Amazon the largest participant in what WSJ described as OpenAI’s ongoing effort to secure up to USD100 billion in new capital.
The report comes just hours after The Information reported that Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon were in talks to invest up to USD60 billion in OpenAI as part of the same fundraising effort.
The raise could see the artificial intelligence company valued as high as USD830 billion, the Journal said, adding that SoftBank is also in talks to invest up to USD30 billion.
The numbers: Amazon shares were trading 0.56% lower on Thursday afternoon (Friday morning AEDT) after the report was published.
Amazon has previously put money into OpenAI rival Anthropic and built an USD11 billion data centre campus for it in Indiana. While expanding its AI investments for customer and internal use, Amazon has also been reducing costs. On Wednesday, the company announced plans to eliminate around 16,000 corporate roles, following approximately 14,000 job cuts in October.
OpenAI is also reportedly seeking funding from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and other venture capital firms, including Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and UAE-based MGX.
The source: The Wall Street Journal
