Amazon completes its full $50 billion OpenAI investment, locking AWS as Frontier's cloud provider

Amazon completed its full $50 billion investment in OpenAI, the company disclosed in a July 31, 2026 securities filing, taking a stake it described as nearly 5% of the AI developer.

The commitment, first announced February 27, 2026, came in tranches: $15 billion in the first quarter, $13.7 billion in the second, and the final $21.3 billion after June 30, once undisclosed performance milestones tied to a conditional $35 billion tranche were met.

The money cements a deeper tie between the two companies. OpenAI named Amazon Web Services the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier, its enterprise offering, and the pair expanded their cloud infrastructure agreement by roughly $100 billion over eight years. For AWS, that locks in one of the largest AI compute customers in the market against rival clouds.

The stake caps a $110 billion round in February that valued OpenAI at $730 billion, with Nvidia and SoftBank each committing $30 billion alongside Amazon’s $50 billion. It positions Amazon as a major shareholder heading into an OpenAI public offering the company is widely expected to pursue, though OpenAI has not confirmed timing.

The nearly-5% figure is Amazon’s own characterization, and neither Amazon nor OpenAI has published the underlying share terms. The milestones that unlocked the final tranche remain undisclosed, so the performance bar OpenAI cleared to secure the last $21.3 billion is not public.