Behind the Money What’s the deal with OpenAI's deals?
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Nov 19, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, George Hammond, a venture capital correspondent at the Financial Times, and Tabby Kinder, the U.S. West Coast financial editor, tackle the monumental changes at OpenAI. They delve into the implications of its shift to a for-profit model and the staggering $1.4 trillion in chip and data center deals. The duo also explores potential funding challenges, vendor financing concerns, and whether OpenAI could represent a systemic risk in the tech market. They highlight the race for computational resources among AI startups and what this means for the industry’s future.
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Scale Of OpenAI's Compute Commitments
- OpenAI has signed roughly $1.4tn of compute deals to secure chips, memory and data centers for the next decade.
- That scale far outpaces current revenues and reshapes industry supply and demand dynamics.
Restructure Enables Traditional Investment
- The restructure split OpenAI into a foundation and a for-profit OpenAI Group to allow investors to hold equity.
- That change unlocks the possibility of an IPO and makes fundraising and investor exits more conventional.
Funding Details Largely Hidden
- The precise funding terms for the $1.4tn of deals remain largely undisclosed across announcements.
- That opacity makes it hard to know whether commitments are cash-funded, equity swaps, or contingent arrangements.
