Amazon Negotiating investment of up to US$50 billion open artificial intelligenceCNBC confirmed on Thursday, a major vote of confidence from the e-commerce giant after investing in one of the startup’s biggest rivals.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy have been directly involved in the discussions, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the details are confidential.

Amazon has poured billions of dollars into OpenAI competitor Anthropic since 2023.

The details of Amazon’s negotiations with OpenAI remain fluid and the final total could change, but a term sheet could be signed in the coming weeks, the person said.

An Amazon representative declined to comment. this wall street journal The $50 billion figure was first reported.

OpenAI is also in financing discussions with a number of other investors, and the total funding in this round may be about $100 billion, the person said. According to previous reports by CNBC, Altman participated in investment negotiations with sovereign wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates last week.

Founded in 2015 as a non-profit research lab, the startup quickly went mainstream in 2022 after launching its generative chatbot ChatGPT. OpenAI has grown into one of the largest commercial entities in the world, with its valuation soaring to $500 billion In October, the company completed a secondary stock sale.

Amazon and OpenAI have been in talks about potential investment since then last year, As CNBC previously reported, the final deal could include a deal to use Amazon’s artificial intelligence chips.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI executives and researchers, including its CEO Dario Amodei. The company is best known for its line of artificial intelligence models called Claude. closure Earlier this month, the company completed a multibillion-dollar financing round valuing it at $350 billion.

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