The Wall Street Journal reported on July 28 that OpenAI was the company that signed a $30 billion per year contract with Oracle for data center services a month ago.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has now verified the specifics of the contract (excluding the dollar amount) in a company blog post and an X post published recently.
In summary, Oracle disclosed in an SEC filing on June 30 that it had executed a cloud agreement that would generate $30 billion in annual revenue.
Conversely, the organization declined to specify its relationship with or the services it provided.
According to Bloomberg, Oracle’s founder and CTO, Larry Ellison, became the second wealthiest individual in the world as a result of the news, which caused Oracle’s stock to reach an all-time high.
The identity of the client was the subject of speculation, as individuals pondered the potential reasons for a company to require an additional $30 billion annually in data center services.
Oracle reported in June that it collectively sold $24.5 billion worth of cloud services to all clients combined in its fiscal 2025.
OpenAI has now clarified that the Oracle agreement is for 4.5 gigawatts of capacity and is part of Stargate, the $500 billion data-center-building endeavor that OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced in January.It appears that SoftBank is not involved in the $30 billion transaction.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 4.5 gigawatts is equivalent to two Hoover Dams, which is sufficient to power approximately four million residences.
Oracle’s victory is not straightforward. OpenAI and Oracle must continue to construct this massive data center, which will be an expensive undertaking in terms of both energy and currency. They are conducting this activity at the Stargate I site in Abilene, Texas, as referred to by OpenAI.
In June, Oracle’s CEO, Safra Catz, disclosed that the company expended $21.2 billion on capital expenditures during its most recent fiscal year.
Additionally, Oracle anticipates spending an additional $25 billion this year.
In two years, nearly $50 billion was spent on data centers, with land purchases not included, according to her.
However, it is important to note that this funding also supports Oracle’s current customers, in addition to OpenAI’s requirements.
