For several years, the AI boom seemed to have one clear center of gravity: OpenAI made the most famous models, and Microsoft’s Azure cloud had the inside track to run and sell them. But that story started to change in January 2025. When OpenAI announced the Stargate project with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, Microsoft was still an important technology partner, yet it was no longer the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI’s future capacity. Instead, Microsoft moved to a “right of first refusal” model, which meant OpenAI could look elsewhere if Azure could not meet its needs. In other words, the old one-company gatekeeper model was already beginning to crack. (openai.com)
The real turning point came on April 27, 2026. Microsoft and OpenAI announced an amended agreement that made the shift unmistakable. Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, and OpenAI products are still expected to launch first on Azure unless Microsoft cannot or chooses not to provide the needed capabilities. However, OpenAI can now offer all of its products across any cloud provider. Microsoft’s license to OpenAI’s intellectual property now runs through 2032 but is no longer exclusive. Microsoft also said it will no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI, while OpenAI will continue revenue-share payments to Microsoft through 2030, subject to a cap. This is not a divorce; it is a reset from exclusivity to strategic flexibility. (blogs.microsoft.com)
The effect was immediate. On April 28, 2026, AWS said Amazon Bedrock would begin offering OpenAI’s latest frontier models, Codex, and managed agents. That move turned OpenAI from a mostly Azure-centered asset into a multi-cloud platform seller almost overnight. It also sharpened the wider cloud war: Azure still has priority, but AWS, Oracle, and potentially other rivals now have a clearer path to compete on price, scale, security, and specialized AI infrastructure. An FTC staff report had already warned that tight AI-cloud partnerships could create switching costs and weaken competition. The new structure does not end the battle. It makes the battle bigger, faster, and far more open. (aws.amazon.com)










