Microsoft relaxes data centre grip on OpenAI amid $500bn joint venture

Microsoft on Tuesday said it has changed some key terms of a deal with OpenAI after the ChatGPT creator announced a joint venture with Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank Group to build up to $500 billion of new AI data centres in the United States. President Donald Trump gathered the leaders of the “Stargate” effort at the White House on Tuesday to announce the deal, saying it was intended to help keep the United States ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race, using chips from Nvidia. Since 2019, Microsoft has had arrangements with OpenAI that gave the Redmond, Washington-based company the exclusive right to build new computing infrastructure for OpenAI. Microsoft, in a blog post, said it has “approved OpenAI’s ability to build additional capacity, primarily for research and training of models”. That opened the door for OpenAI to work with Oracle.