Are NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD just the beginning? Altman: There will be more big deals for OpenAI

# Is the "AI Closed-Loop Economy" Set to Intensify?

Source: Wall Street CN  

Recently, the series of sensational agreements reached by OpenAI with NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD may only be the beginning. On October 8th, according to TechCrunch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed in a podcast show:  

“In the coming months, you can expect us to bring more (deals like this).”  

He explained that due to strong confidence in the company’s future model capabilities and the demand they will generate, “we have decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet.”  

Almost at the same time Altman made these remarks, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang expressed surprise on a CNBC program regarding the news of OpenAI’s partnership with rival AMD. When asked if he had known about the deal in advance, he replied that he was “not really aware” of it.  

Since the start of this year, OpenAI has finalized a series of agreements, including the $500 billion “Stargate” project in collaboration with Oracle and SoftBank, as well as large-scale computing power partnerships with NVIDIA and AMD respectively. These deals are characterized by innovative financing structures, described by outsiders as the prototype of an “AI closed-loop economy” or “AI conglomerate.”  

This strategy directly impacts the structure of the AI industry chain. By transforming suppliers into a community of shared interests, OpenAI has not only secured the massive computing power needed for its future development but also deeply tied the fortunes of companies like NVIDIA and AMD to its own growth—increasing the systemic connections and risks of the entire ecosystem.  

## "Cross-Holding": Using Suppliers’ Money to Buy the Future  

The cooperation model between OpenAI and the two chip giants highlights its clever deal structure design. At the core of these arrangements is leveraging OpenAI’s huge computing power demand to gain deep binding and financial support from chip suppliers.  

In its partnership with NVIDIA, NVIDIA has committed to investing up to $100 billion in OpenAI, becoming a shareholder of the AI company. In return, OpenAI will directly purchase AI equipment including GPUs from NVIDIA, preparing for its transformation into a “self-hosted hyperscale enterprise.” Reportedly, this model has been called AI “circular financing” by some critics, meaning NVIDIA is essentially funding OpenAI’s purchase of its own products.  

The deal structure between OpenAI and AMD is also quite unique. As mentioned by Wall Street CN, AMD has agreed to provide OpenAI with a large number of stock warrants, totaling up to 10% of the company’s shares. These warrants will be gradually exercised over the next few years based on factors such as stock price increases. In exchange, OpenAI will use and assist in developing AMD’s next-generation AI graphics processing unit (GPU) chips.  

This means OpenAI will become a shareholder of AMD, and part of its chip procurement costs will be covered by the appreciation of AMD’s own stock. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri pointed out in a research report that if AMD’s stock price reaches specific milestones, the value of the shares held by OpenAI could be as high as $100 billion—enough to cover most of its GPU procurement bills. Arcuri believes that a more likely scenario is that OpenAI will sell AMD shares along the way to pay the bills, which essentially means AMD is providing financing for the customer’s procurement.  

## Trillion-Dollar Gamble: Altman’s Aggressive Bet on AI’s Future  

The scale of OpenAI’s expansion is unprecedented. Its list of deals includes: the $500 billion “Stargate” project in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, aiming to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of U.S. data center facilities; a collaboration with NVIDIA to build at least 10 GW of AI data centers; and a 6 GW computing power deployment with AMD.  

Underpinning this series of bold deals is Altman’s unwavering confidence in AI’s future. He explained in the podcast that because he foresees that the capabilities and demand for future models will far exceed the present, the company “has decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet.”  

However, the reality is that there is a huge gap between OpenAI’s financial situation and the scale of these deals. Reports indicate that the company’s revenue in the first half of 2025 was $4.5 billion, while the total value of the various agreements signed this year is estimated to be as high as $1 trillion. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also admitted that OpenAI “doesn’t have the money right now” to pay for all the equipment, and he estimates that each gigawatt of AI data centers will cost $50 billion to $60 billion.  

Despite the huge financial gap, Altman has shown great confidence in the future. He said: “I have never been so confident in the research roadmap ahead of us and the economic value that using these (future) models will generate.” He also acknowledged that achieving this goal requires the support of the entire industry.  

He stated in the podcast: “From the electronic level to model distribution and everything in between, we need the entire industry or a large part of it to support this. Therefore, we will cooperate with many people.” These words explain why OpenAI is seeking such diverse and in-depth partnerships, and herald that future deals will cover broader areas, from energy to software distribution.  

## OpenAI Reportedly in Talks with Broadcom for Custom Chips  

As noted in a Wall Street CN article, earlier media reports revealed that OpenAI is also in talks with Broadcom to develop custom chips for its next-generation models.  

In early September this year, Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan disclosed during an earnings call that the company has converted a potential customer into its fourth official custom AI accelerator (XPU) customer and secured a production order worth over $10 billion. This massive new order pushed the company’s total backlog to a record $110 billion.  

It was later revealed that this multi-billion-dollar order customer is OpenAI.  

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