Microsoft Set to Gain from $677b AI Project with Zero Money

When US President Donald Trump joined tech executives on Jan 21 to tout a US$500 billion (S$677 billion) artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project led in part by OpenAI, one question sprang to mind: where's Microsoft?

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Despite investing almost US$14 billion in OpenAI and using the start-up's AI models for its next-generation cloud services, Microsoft was mentioned only as a technology partner in a joint venture called Stargate launched by OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle.

Then, in a blog post, the software giant said OpenAI could use rival cloud services to train and run its AI models with Microsoft's permission, watering down an exclusivity contract.

The flurry of announcements prompted renewed speculation that the Microsoft-OpenAI relationship has frayed somewhat, although each party currently has more to gain together than apart.

But Microsoft has become less willing to spend even more money financing the computing power OpenAI says it needs to retain a lead in AI.

In 2023, Microsoft was close to a deal to invest tens of billions of additional dollars in OpenAI, according to people familiar with the situation.