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OpenAI signs $38B infrastructure deal with Amazon Web Service

OpenAI has signed a deal to buy $38 billion worth of capacity from Amazon Web Services, its first contract with the leader in cloud infrastructure and the latest sign that the $500 billion artificial intelligence startup is no longer reliant on Microsoft.

Under the agreement announced on Monday, OpenAI will immediately begin running workloads on AWS infrastructure, tapping hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) in the U.S., with plans to expand capacity in the coming years.

Amazon stock climbed about 5% following the news.

The first phase of the deal will use existing AWS data centers, and Amazon will eventually build out additional infrastructure for OpenAI.

“It’s completely separate capacity that we’re putting down,” said Dave Brown, vice president of compute and machine learning services at AWS, in an interview. “Some of that capacity is already available, and OpenAI is making use of that.”

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OpenAI has been on a dealmaking spree of late, announcing roughly $1.4 trillion worth of buildout agreements with companies including Nvidia, Broadcom, Oracle and Google — prompting skeptics to warn of an AI bubble and question whether the country has the power and resources needed to turn the ambitious promises into reality.

Until this year, OpenAI had an exclusive cloud agreement with Microsoft, which first backed the company in 2019 and has invested a total of $13 billion. In January, Microsoft said it would no longer be the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, and was moving to an arrangement where it would have right of first refusal for new requests.

Last week, Microsoft’s preferential status expired under its newly negotiated commercial terms with OpenAI, freeing the ChatGPT creator to partner more widely with the other hyperscalers. Even before that, OpenAI forged cloud deals with Oracle and Google, but AWS is by far the market leader.

“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in Monday’s release. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”

OpenAI will still be spending heavily with Microsoft, reaffirming that commitment by saying last week that it will purchase an incremental $250 billion of Azure services.

Amazon's $11B data center goes live: Here's an inside look

For Amazon, the pact is significant both in the size and scale of the deal itself and because the cloud giant has close ties to OpenAI rival Anthropic. Amazon has invested billions of dollars in Anthropic, and is currently constructing an $11 billion data center campus in New Carlisle, Indiana, that’s designed exclusively for Anthropic workloads.

“The breadth and immediate availability of optimized compute demonstrates why AWS is uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s vast AI workloads,” AWS CEO Matt Garman said in the release.

In its earnings report last week, Amazon reported more than 20% year-over-year revenue growth at AWS, beating analyst estimates. But growth was faster at Microsoft and Google, which reported cloud expansion of 40% and 34%, respectively.

Starting on Nvidia

The current agreement with OpenAI is explicitly for use of Nvidia chips, including two popular Blackwell models, but there’s potential to incorporate additional silicon down the road. Amazon’s custom-built Trainium chip is being used by Anthropic in the new facility.

“We like Trainium because we’re able to give customers something that gives them better price performance and honestly gives them choice,” Brown said, adding that he can’t provide any details on “anything we’ve done with OpenAI on Trainium at this point.”

The infrastructure will support both inference — such as powering ChatGPT’s real-time responses — and training of next-generation frontier models. OpenAI can expand with AWS as needed over the next seven years, but no plans beyond 2026 have been finalized.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (L) shakes hands with Microsoft Chief Technology Officer and Executive VP of Artificial Intelligence Kevin Scott during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on May 21, 2024.

Jason Redmond | Afp | Getty Images

OpenAI’s foundation models, including so-called open-weight options, are already available on Bedrock, AWS’s managed service for accessing leading AI systems.

Companies including Peloton, Thomson Reuters, Comscore, and Triomics use OpenAI models on AWS for tasks ranging from coding and mathematical problem solving to scientific analysis and agentic workflows.

Monday’s announcement establishes a more direct relationship.

“As part of this deal, OpenAI is a customer of AWS,” Brown said. “They’ve committed to buying compute capacity from us, and we’re charging OpenAI for that capacity. It’s very, very straightforward.”

For OpenAI, the most highly valued private AI company, the AWS agreement is another step in getting ready to eventually go public. By diversifying its cloud partners and locking in long-term capacity across providers, OpenAI is signaling both independence and operational maturity.

Altman acknowledged in a recent livestream that an IPO is “the most likely path” given OpenAI’s capital needs. CFO Sarah Friar has echoed that sentiment, framing the recent corporate restructuring as a necessary step toward going public.

WATCH: AWS CEO Matt Garman on Amazon’s massive new AI data center for Anthropic

AWS CEO Matt Garman on Amazon's massive new AI data center for Anthropic, Trainium chips and more

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CNBC Daily Open: Flying blind in markets and the economy

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CNBC Daily Open: Flying blind in markets and the economy

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 13, 2025 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

U.S. markets had their worst day since Oct. 10. That marks a sharp reversal for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which shed 1.65% to settle at 47,457.22, a day after it closed above 48,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 lost 1.66% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.29%.

The slump in stocks can partly be traced to a turnaround in sentiment regarding artificial intelligence. Tech behemoths such as Nvidia, Broadcom and Oracle slumped, with the last losing more than one-third in value since it rocketed 36% in September.

Investors, it seems, are growing worried over the high valuations of tech names, as well as the gigantic amount of capital expenditure they are committing to — with some, like Oracle, having to take on debt to fulfil those obligations.

Uncertainty over an interest rate cut in December is also putting a downer on Wall Street. It’s a coin toss as to whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy then, according to the CME FedWatch tool. That’s a huge difference from a month ago, when traders were pricing in a 95.5% chance of a December cut.

Not having October’s employment and inflation numbers, and possibly never getting them, means the Fed lacks visibility into the state of the economy — and whether it should try to support the labor market or continue reining in inflation.

After all, flying blind makes it hard to see where you’ll land. As of now, that applies both to the Fed and investors trying to navigate the still-hazy ambitions of tech companies.

What you need to know today

And finally…

Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk speaks at a Q&A following a tour of the OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.

Shelby Tauber | Reuters

Wall Street cools on Oracle’s buildout plans as debt concerns mount: ‘AI sentiment is waning’

Two months ago, Oracle’s stock soared 36% to a record after the company blew away investors with its forecast for cloud infrastructure revenue. Since then, the company has lost one-third of its value, more than wiping out those gains.

The mood of late has turned, with investors questioning whether the AI market ran too far, too fast and whether OpenAI can live up to its $300 billion commitment to Oracle over five years. Of the big cloud companies in the GPU business, Oracle is expected to generate the least amount of free cash flow, said Jackson Ader, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

— Seema Mody

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StubHub stock tanks 20% as CEO says it is not giving guidance for current quarter

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StubHub stock tanks 20% as CEO says it is not giving guidance for current quarter

Ticket reseller StubHub signage on display at the New York Stock Exchange for the company’s IPO on Sept. 17, 2025.

NYSE

StubHub shares plunged 20% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported quarterly results for the first time since its initial public offering in September.

Here’s how the ticket vendor did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Loss per share: $4.27
  • Revenue: $468.1 million vs. $452 million expected

During a conference call with investors, StubHub CEO and founder Eric Baker said the company wouldn’t provide guidance for the current quarter.

Baker said that the company takes “a long term approach,” adding that the timing of when tickets go on sale can vary, making it hard to predict consumer demand. StubHub plans to offer outlook for 2026 when it reports fourth-quarter results, he said.

“The demand for live events is phenomenal,” Baker said. “We don’t see anything with consumer demand that’s any different.”

Revenue increased 8% in its second quarter from $433.8 million a year earlier, the company said.

StubHub reported a net loss of $1.33 billion, or a loss of $4.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $45.9 million, or a loss of 15 cents per share, during the same period last year. StubHub said this reflects a one-time stock-based compensation charge of $1.4 billion stemming from its IPO.

Gross merchandise sales, which represent the total dollar value paid by ticket buyers, rose 11% year over year to $2.43 billion.

The company faced tough comparisons from a year earlier, when results were boosted by Taylor Swift’s massively popular Eras Tour. Excluding that impact, StubHub said GMS grew 24% year over year.

Founded in 2000, StubHub primarily generates revenue from connecting buyers with ticket resellers. It competes with Vivid Seats, which was taken public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021; SeatGeek; and Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment.

“We are building a truly differentiated consumer product that improves the experience for fans while unlocking better economics for venues, teams, and artists through open distribution,” Baker said in a statement. “We’re early in that journey, but our progress so far gives us great confidence in our strategy and the long-term value we’re creating.”

StubHub raised $800 million in its long-awaited IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which came after it delayed its debut twice. The most recent stall came in April after President Donald Trump‘s announcement of sweeping tariffs roiled markets. The company restarted the process to go public in August when it filed an updated prospectus.

On Thursday, the company’s stock closed at $18.82. Shares are now down roughly 20% from the IPO price of $23.50.

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Google says group behind E-ZPass, USPS text scam has been ‘shut down’ after suit

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Google says group behind E-ZPass, USPS text scam has been 'shut down' after suit

The Google corporate logo hangs outside the Google Germany offices on August 31, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Google said on Thursday said it has disrupted the foreign cybercriminal group behind a massive SMS text phishing operation within 24 hours of filing its lawsuit.

“This shut down of Lighthouse’s operations is a win for everyone,” said Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado. “We will continue to hold malicious scammers accountable and protect consumers.”

Google filed the suit early Wednesday, seeking to dismantle the organization that some cyber experts have dubbed the “Smishing Triad,” which used a phishing kit named “Lighthouse” to generate and deploy attacks using fake texts.

The company provided translated Telegram messages allegedly posted by the group’s ringleader.

“Our cloud server has been blocked due to malicious complaints. Please be patient and we will restore it as soon as possible!” one message read.

Another message stated that “The reopening date will be announced separately.”

Google did not provide specifics on how the operation was shut down.

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The crime group had harmed at least 1 million victims across over 120 countries, Google said in a release.

Victims would receive texts containing malicious links to fraudulent websites designed to steal sensitive financial information, including Social Security numbers and banking credentials.

The messages often appeared as fake delivery updates, unpaid fees notifications, fraud alerts, and other texts designed to appear urgent.

“They were preying on users’ trust in reputable brands such as E-ZPass, the U.S. Postal Service, and even us as Google,” DeLaine Prado previously told CNBC.

The company said that it found over 100 templates generated by Lighthouse using the company’s branding to trick victims into thinking the sites were legitimate.

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