Microsoft strengthens its alliance with OpenAI: the tech giant now owns 27% and bets on the future of Artificial Intelligence

With the recapitalization and the creation of the new benefit corporation OpenAI Foundation, Microsoft and the company behind ChatGPT enter a new $135 billion strategic phase focused on ethics, research, and global technological security.

Microsoft is deepening its ties with OpenAI, the company led by Sam Altman and creator of ChatGPT, officially becoming one of its major shareholders. Following a recent recapitalization, the Redmond-based giant now holds a 27% diluted stake, valued at around $135 billion. Without considering the latest funding rounds, Microsoft’s share would rise to 32.5%, underscoring the growing strength of their partnership.

OpenAI’s restructuring also marks the birth of a new Public Benefit Corporation, a model designed to combine economic performance with social responsibility. The move includes the creation of the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit that holds roughly $130 billion in the for-profit company and has already pledged $25 billion to initiatives focused on disease research and cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. It’s a clear sign of the company’s ambition to steer artificial intelligence toward positive and sustainable outcomes.

The new agreement keeps intact the core elements that have defined the collaboration since 2019. OpenAI will remain Microsoft’s primary partner for frontier models, the most advanced forms of AI research and development. Meanwhile, Microsoft retains exclusive intellectual property rights and exclusive access to OpenAI’s APIs through Azure, its cloud platform—until the companies achieve what they describe as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), an autonomous system that surpasses human abilities across most economically valuable tasks.

With this move, Microsoft not only solidifies its leadership in the AI sector but also positions itself at the forefront of the next technological revolution alongside OpenAI—a transformation that experts believe could redefine the global economy and the very way humans work and interact with machines.