Major Banks' Ratings | China Merchants Securities International: Microsoft and OpenAI Update Cooperation Agreement, Positive Development for Amazon and Google

Glonghui, April 29 — According to a report released by China Merchants Securities International, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon have restructured their partnership. Microsoft has ended its exclusive rights to use OpenAI models and has adjusted the partnership to a non-exclusive agreement, effective through 2032. The cooperation model has shifted from a previously indefinite collaboration linked to AGI to a fixed-term partnership. Overall, this adjustment marks the AI industry’s transition from “cloud platform lock-in” to a more open multi-cloud model, intensifying competition between cloud providers and large models, while also offering corporate clients greater flexibility in combining models and infrastructure. Marginally, the firm believes this is more beneficial to Amazon's and Google’s cloud businesses, allowing them to access OpenAI models and strengthening their multi-model, multi-partner neutral AI infrastructure strategies.Regarding Microsoft, the firm takes a more neutral and balanced view of this transaction. On the negative side, losing exclusivity with OpenAI weakens Azure’s differentiated advantage in the AI field and could be a slight drag on the marginal growth elasticity of its cloud business. On the positive side, Microsoft gains more favorable financial terms, continues with large-scale Azure resource consumption, and retains about a 27% stake in OpenAI, participating in its long-term growth. Additionally, this arrangement opens up more potential funding channels for OpenAI, which to some extent safeguards Microsoft’s existing investment value in OpenAI.