Hajra Naz
Sam Altman just turned up the competitive heat—not just on OpenAI’s usual rivals, but also on its closest allies. In a strategic twist, OpenAI has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make two of its newest open-weight reasoning models available on the AWS platform.
This marks a major first: OpenAI’s models have never before been accessible through Amazon’s cloud ecosystem. Starting Tuesday, they will be offered via Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker, two of AWS’s key generative AI services. This bold move positions AWS as a direct channel for OpenAI technology, creating fresh friction in the already complex web of AI alliances.
OpenAI Models, Now in the Heart of AWS
The two models—described as having capabilities comparable to OpenAI’s proprietary O-series—are also available for direct download via Hugging Face. But the AWS integration brings enterprise-level functionality and scale, all with OpenAI’s full approval. Dmitry Pimenov, OpenAI’s product lead, confirmed the endorsement in the official announcement.
An AWS spokesperson described the collaboration as similar to its earlier distribution of the DeepSeek-R1 open model—another indication that AWS is serious about offering a wide array of model choices to customers building on its AI stack.
This partnership doesn’t just benefit AWS. For OpenAI, it’s a calculated play to diversify its alliances and reduce reliance on Microsoft Azure, even as Azure remains its primary cloud provider.
A Strategic Power Play for AWS
This is a juicy win for AWS, which until now has been seen largely as a financial backer and infrastructure provider for Anthropic, the creator of Claude and one of OpenAI’s main competitors. AWS has made Claude—and models from Meta, Mistral, Cohere, and DeepSeek—available on Bedrock, but OpenAI’s absence has been glaring.
Bedrock enables customers to plug and play with various models to build generative AI apps. SageMaker, meanwhile, offers tools for training and fine-tuning models, often for analytics and internal enterprise applications.
Now, with OpenAI in its portfolio, AWS finally gets to compete on a level playing field with Microsoft in the model wars—and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Read More: AWS to Launch AI Agent Marketplace Next Week with Anthropic Partnership
Cloud Wars: Microsoft vs. Amazon vs. Oracle
For months, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has faced scrutiny over AWS’s perceived lag in generative AI. During last week’s earnings call, analysts repeatedly pressed him about AWS falling behind Microsoft and Google in cloud AI adoption.
-
JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth challenged Jassy on why Microsoft and Google were growing faster in cloud AI.
-
Brian Nowak from Morgan Stanley said Wall Street was worried AWS was “losing share” in the GenAI race.
Jassy defended AWS with a pointed remark aimed at Microsoft, stating:
“The second player is about 65% of the size of AWS.”
Still, the competitive pressure is real. Microsoft, with its close relationship with OpenAI, has had a strong first-mover advantage. Azure was the first to deeply integrate OpenAI’s models and continues to offer exclusive infrastructure for the company’s most powerful tools. Just this week, Microsoft announced that it would offer optimized versions of these same two open-weight models—tailored specifically for Windows devices.
And it’s not just Microsoft. Oracle recently announced it signed a $30 billion-a-year deal to provide data center services for OpenAI—more than all of Oracle’s other cloud customers combined. That staggering figure reflects OpenAI’s massive compute demand, and it underscores how strategic these partnerships have become.
Why This Move Matters for OpenAI
OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft has reportedly been under renegotiation, and tensions have flared as both companies seek greater control over their shared future. For OpenAI, aligning with AWS—even in a limited capacity—sends a strong message: it won’t be locked into one ecosystem forever.
This partnership also unlocks access to AWS’s massive enterprise customer base, making it easier for companies already using Amazon’s AI tools to start experimenting with OpenAI’s models—without migrating to Azure.
On top of that, OpenAI gets to outflank Meta in the open-source arena. As it releases these new models under the permissive Apache 2.0 license, Meta is walking back its open-source ambitions. The company recently admitted it may not continue to open-source future “superintelligence” models—a shift that could alienate the very developer community it once rallied.
Final Thoughts: A New Chapter in the AI Arms Race
The AWS-OpenAI deal is more than tech. It’s a chess move in the AI power struggle. OpenAI steps a bit out of Microsoft’s shadow. AWS gains long-awaited credibility in AI models. The balance of power shifts again in cloud AI.
What happens next depends on Microsoft’s response. Will OpenAI keep spreading its models to other platforms? One thing is clear. Sam Altman’s torch burns hotter than ever. No rival is safe from the heat.
