Amazon's $50 billion OpenAI investment could depend on AGI milestone or IPO timing

Amazon's $50 Billion OpenAI Investment Could Hinge on AGI | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. As The Information reported Wednesday (Feb. 25), sources in contact with OpenAI executives say the decision to invest could depend on whether the artificial intelligence (AI) startup goes public, or if it achieves "artificial general intelligence (AGI)," a term for AI that functions at the same level as humans. Previous report have said OpenAI is targeting the fourth quarter of 2026 for its initial public offering (IPO). While the investment is still being negotiated, the terms say Amazon would invest an initial $15 billion in OpenAI, with the remainder turning on whether the company reached AI or listed, the sources said. PYMNTS has contacted both Amazon and OpenAI for comment but has not yet received replies. Amazon's proposed investment is part of OpenAI's current round of funding, which could exceed $100 billion and value the company at $730 billion before the financing. Softbank and Nvidia are also planning to each invest $30 billion in three installments, the sources said. While past reports had Microsoft planning to invest "low billions" of dollars, the report added, sources said the company could invest even less, or not contribute at all. Microsoft had for years been OpenAI's biggest patron, investing roughly $13 billion into the startup in exchange for a 20% share in its revenue and the right to resell OpenAI's models, the Information noted. But as OpenAI began spending more on compute costs, it struck deals with companies for additional cloud services, Amazon included, while also raising increasingly large amounts of money. The company has forecast a need for $665 billion over the next five years to cover its compute costs, the report added. In other AI news, PYMNTS spoke Thursday (Feb. 26) with Mladen Vladic, head of product, payment networks at FIS, about the way that agentic AI is shifting the balance of innovation in the payments world. It's a model in which software agents act on behalf of shoppers to seek out products, evaluate choices, negotiate terms and carry out transactions within predefined parameters. "We are seeing something different with agentic commerce where you have the largest brands in the marketplace announcing first," Vladic told PYMNTS during a conversation for the February edition of the What's Next in Payments series, "Word of the Year." "This is a transformational inflection point in the industry," Vladic said. "Not only in this country, but globally."

Amazon's $50 billion OpenAI investment may depend on IPO or AGI, The Information reports

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Amazon's plan to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI could depend on whether the AI developer goes public or achieves an artificial general intelligence (AGI) milestone, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Under terms still being negotiated, Amazon would invest $15 billion upfront, with an additional $35 billion contingent on Microsoft-backed OpenAI hitting an AGI milestone or pursuing an IPO, according to the report. Additionally, SoftBank and Nvidia each plan to invest $30 billion in three installments over the year as part of the funding round, the Information added. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. OpenAI and Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comments outside regular business hours. OpenAI is laying the groundwork for an IPO that could value the company at up to $1 trillion, Reuters exclusively reported last year. Major tech companies and investors are racing to forge partnerships with OpenAI, which is spending heavily on data centers, betting that closer ties with the artificial-intelligence startup would give them a competitive edge in the AI race. Amazon has been in talks to invest tens of billions of dollars in OpenAI, and the amount could reach $50 billion, a source told Reuters last month. Investing up to $50 billion could make Amazon the biggest contributor to the AI company's ongoing fundraising round. (Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)