Microsoft-OpenAI exclusive deal (2019-2026)
Microsoft invested billions in OpenAI and became its exclusive cloud provider, giving Azure sole access to GPT models for enterprise workloads. The arrangement made Microsoft the primary commercial channel for OpenAI's technology.
Azure became the default cloud for OpenAI customers, and Microsoft integrated GPT models into its products.
The deal shaped the AI industry's cloud economics, with major cloud providers competing to host frontier AI models.
The expiration of this exclusivity in April 2026 opened the door for OpenAI to distribute through AWS and Google Cloud.
