Amazon Strikes Key AI Partnership with OpenAI, Boosting Stock and Analyst Confidence
The new collaboration brings ChatGPT-creator's models to Amazon Web Services, signaling a strategic move to challenge rivals Microsoft and Google in the AI cloud race.
SEATTLE, WA – Amazon (AMZN) is making a significant move in the artificial intelligence arena, announcing its first official partnership with ChatGPT-creator OpenAI. The collaboration, which brings OpenAI’s open-weight models to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform, has been met with positive buzz from Wall Street analysts and sent Amazon’s stock surging higher on Wednesday.
The tech giant confirmed on Tuesday that OpenAI models are now available through its AWS Bedrock and SageMaker services—platforms that empower enterprise customers to build and scale their own AI applications. The announcement is seen as a crucial step for AWS, coming just a week after a lukewarm cloud revenue report had raised investor concerns about Amazon falling behind competitors like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google Cloud in the AI sector.
The market reacted swiftly and positively to the news. On Wednesday, Amazon’s stock climbed 3.7% to 221.66, pushing back above its 50-day moving average—a key technical indicator of market health.
Analysts cheered the development as a strategic win. “We see the addition of OpenAI to the AWS platform, while far from a comprehensive deal, as a positive initial step in the relationship, suggesting the companies are interested in working together,” wrote BofA Securities analyst Justin Post in a note to clients.
The sentiment was echoed by AWS Chief Executive Matt Garman, who celebrated the partnership on LinkedIn, calling it a “powerhouse combination.” He added, “This brings together OpenAI’s leading technology with AWS’s scale, security, and deployment capabilities.”
This new partnership places Amazon in a more competitive position against Microsoft, which has a deep and long-standing investment in OpenAI and has served as its exclusive cloud provider. While this AWS deal focuses on OpenAI’s “open weight” models—which are released more freely to developers—it marks a pivotal moment. It diversifies OpenAI’s reach beyond Microsoft Azure and gives AWS customers access to some of the most sought-after AI tools in the industry.
“The arrangement represents a nice first step in the OpenAI + AWS relationship and we continue to believe that if it expands further, it could be a catalyst for Amazon’s stock,” noted Dan Salmon, an analyst at New Street Research. He acknowledged that AWS already offers models from Meta and Google, but the inclusion of OpenAI is a significant addition, even if it doesn’t yet include the startup’s more powerful “closed” models like the highly anticipated GPT-5.
For Amazon, whose AWS division is the primary driver of its profits, this AI-focused move helps to shift the narrative back to growth and innovation. Analysts like BofA’s Post remain “constructive” on Amazon’s AI potential, suggesting this initial deal could pave the way for a deeper collaboration in the future, further solidifying AWS’s role as a central hub for enterprise AI development.
