NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD are just the beginning? Altman: OpenAI will have more big deals

"Will the 'AI Closed-loop Economy' Intensify?"

Recently, a series of sensational agreements reached by OpenAI with NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD may just be the beginning. On October 8th, according to TechCrunch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed in a podcast:

In the coming months, you can expect us to bring more (such deals).

He explained that, given the strong confidence in the company's future model capabilities and the demand they generate, "we have decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet."

Almost simultaneously with Altman's remarks, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang expressed surprise on CNBC regarding the news of OpenAI's collaboration with competitor AMD. When asked if he was aware of the deal in advance, he replied that he was "not really informed" about it.

This year, OpenAI has finalized a series of agreements, including the $500 billion "Stargate" project in collaboration with Oracle and SoftBank, as well as substantial computing power partnerships with both NVIDIA and AMD. These deals are characterized by innovative financing structures, described by outsiders as the prototype of an "AI closed-loop economy" or "AI conglomerate."

This strategy directly impacts the landscape of the AI industry chain. By transforming suppliers into a community of interests, OpenAI not only secures the vast computing power needed for future development but also deeply ties the fates of companies like NVIDIA and AMD to its growth, increasing the systemic connections and risks across the entire ecosystem.

"Cross-shareholding": Buying the Future with Suppliers' Money

The collaboration model between OpenAI and the two chip giants highlights its shrewd deal structure design. The core of these arrangements is to leverage OpenAI's enormous computing power needs as a bargaining chip to gain deep binding and financial support from chip suppliers.

In the partnership with NVIDIA, NVIDIA has committed to investing up to $100 billion in OpenAI, becoming a shareholder in the AI company. In return, OpenAI will directly purchase AI equipment, including GPUs, from NVIDIA, preparing for it to become a "self-hosted hyperscale enterprise." According to reports, this model has been referred to by some critics as AI "circular financing," meaning that NVIDIA is essentially funding OpenAI's purchase of its own products.

The deal structure between OpenAI and AMD is also quite unique. Wallstreetcn mentioned that AMD agreed to provide OpenAI with a large number of stock warrants, totaling up to 10% of the company's shares, which will be gradually realized over the next few years based on factors such as stock price increases. In exchange, OpenAI will use and assist in the development of AMD's next-generation AI graphics processing unit (GPU) chips.

This means that OpenAI will become a shareholder of AMD, and part of its chip procurement costs will be covered by the appreciation of AMD's own stock. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri pointed out in a research report that if AMD's stock price reaches specific milestones, the value of the shares held by OpenAI could reach up to $100 billion, enough to cover most of its GPU procurement bills Arcuri believes that a more likely scenario is that OpenAI will sell AMD shares along the way to pay the bills, which essentially means that AMD is providing financing for customer procurement.

Trillion-Dollar Gamble: Altman's Aggressive Bet on the Future of AI

OpenAI's scale of expansion is unprecedented. Its deal list includes: the $500 billion "Stargate" project in collaboration with Oracle and SoftBank, aimed at building 10 gigawatts of data center facilities in the U.S.; a partnership with NVIDIA to build at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers; and a 6-gigawatt computing power deployment in collaboration with AMD.

Supporting this series of bold deals is Altman's firm confidence in the future of AI. He explained in a podcast that, anticipating that the capabilities and demand for future models will far exceed the present, the company "has decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet."

However, the reality is that there is a huge gap between OpenAI's financial situation and the scale of these deals. Reports indicate that the company's revenue for the first half of 2025 is $4.5 billion, while the total estimated value of the agreements signed this year has reached $1 trillion. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also admitted that OpenAI "currently has no money" to pay for all the equipment, estimating that each gigawatt of AI data center will cost between $50 billion and $60 billion.

Despite the significant financial gap, Altman shows great confidence in the future. He stated, "I have never been so confident in the research roadmap ahead of us and the economic value that will be generated by using these (future) models." He also acknowledged that achieving this goal requires support from the entire industry.

He mentioned in the podcast, "From the electronic level to model distribution and everything in between, we need the entire industry or a large part of the industry to support it. Therefore, we will collaborate with many people."

This statement explains why OpenAI is seeking such diverse and in-depth partnerships and foreshadows that future deals will touch on a broader range of areas from energy to software distribution. For the tech industry, OpenAI's next big deal is worth holding one's breath for