Amazon in Talks to Invest 72 Trillion Won in OpenAI

CEOs of Both Companies Begin Negotiations

On January 29 (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Amazon is in discussions to invest up to 50 billion dollars (71.75 trillion won) in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.

According to sources, Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, has begun negotiations on this matter with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Amazon logo. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News

OpenAI is seeking to raise a total of 100 billion dollars in this investment round. If successful, the company’s valuation would reach up to 830 billion dollars.

If Amazon invests 50 billion dollars in OpenAI, it would become the largest investor in this round. On January 27, WSJ reported that Japan’s SoftBank, led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, is also considering an additional investment of up to 30 billion dollars in OpenAI.

WSJ predicted that a deal between Amazon and OpenAI would further strengthen the relationship between the two companies. OpenAI, which had previously relied on Microsoft (MS) for computing power, signed a 38 billion dollar computing services purchase agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in November last year. The contract period is seven years.

The Information reported the previous day that Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft are discussing a plan to invest up to 60 billion dollars in OpenAI. The size of Amazon’s investment depends on whether it expands its contract with AWS signed in November last year or makes deals to purchase OpenAI products such as Amazon’s enterprise ChatGPT.

OpenAI is considering an initial public offering (IPO) and aims to attract funding from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and venture capital firms. Existing investors include Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and MGX of the United Arab Emirates.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.