Nvidia may be dominating the graphics processing unit (GPU) market right now, but its closest competitor AMD is catching up. Today (October 6), AMD announced a landmark collaboration with Openai, mirroring the latest deal between Openai and Nvidia. Under the agreement, AMD will deploy six gigawatts of computing power to OpenAI, and OpenAI will have the option to acquire 10% of AMD stock, which would be worth approximately $33 billion.
The partnership allows OpenAI to continue launching new AI models and tools, providing a significant boost in computing resources. “This partnership is an important step in building the computing power needed to realize the full potential of AI,” Openai CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.
Openai’s first Gigawatt deployment is planned for the second half of 2026 and will use AMD’s MI450 chip. The initial rollout will coincide with OpenAI’s AMD stock vesting plan, allowing Openai to acquire up to 6 GW of stock as a Deployments Scare of 160 million shares. Equity grants will be based on Openai hitting technical and business milestones. The full deal can only be executed if AMD’s stock reaches $600 per share. AMD stock is currently trading at $204.
The AMD partnership is the latest in a series of Blockbuster AI deals. NVIDIA recently announced a long-term agreement with Openai, guaranteeing up to $100 billion in investment over the next decade. In return, OpenAI will receive up to 10 gigawatts of computing power from NVIDIA systems.
According to Crunchbase data, global venture capital increased 38% year-on-year in the third quarter to $97 billion, with nearly half of the funds flowing into AI venture capital. Analysts say the current boom evokes the early days of the internet.
“We continue to believe we are in the early innings of this spending cycle,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a client note. He added that AMD’s new deal with OpenAI marks “1996” in the technology world, likening today’s AI momentum to the foundation of the tech economy.
NVIDIA stock fell more than 1% today following AMD’s announcement, but the company still holds more than 90% of the global GPU market lead. NVIDIA’s early success in meeting AI-fueled GPU demand pushed its market cap to $4.5 trillion and boosted $41 billion in data center revenue between May and July. AMD, by comparison, has a market capitalization of $334 billion and generated $3.2 billion in data center revenue in its most recent quarter.
Lisa Su, who has led AMD as CEO since 2014, believes the OpenAI deal will accelerate that growth. SU told analysts today that her company has a “clear line of sight” to capture hundreds of billions of dollars in data center revenue by 2027. “In addition to the OpenAI opportunity and the significant revenue there, we hope to generate over $100 billion in revenue over the next few years,” she said.
