The nonprofit will also receive a stake in the new PBC valued at upwards of $100 billion.
“Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the next phase of our partnership,” both companies said in a joint statement. “We are actively working to finalise contractual terms in a definitive agreement.”
If approved by regulators in California and Delaware, the transition could significantly increase OpenAI’s flexibility in raising capital while preserving nonprofit oversight.
The governance model, however, will however remain unusual. It was the same structure that allowed the nonprofit board to briefly remove CEO Sam Altman in 2023, before he was reinstated days later following board resignations.
Under the current agreement, Microsoft enjoys preferred access to OpenAI’s technology and is its main cloud provider. But OpenAI has grown dramatically since Microsoft’s first investment in 2019, and has sought to diversify. In recent months, OpenAI has committed to a $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle starting in 2027 and partnered with SoftBank on its Stargate data centre project.
