Microsoft will no longer be the exclusive provider of new cloud computing capacity to OpenAI — a new twist in their relationship that clears the way for OpenAI to work with Oracle and others on the $500 billion Stargate AI project announced by the companies Tuesday with President Trump at the White House.

The software giant was previously the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI and now retains right of first refusal.

The new agreement “includes changes to the exclusivity on new capacity, moving to a model where Microsoft has a right of first refusal (ROFR),” Microsoft says. “To further support OpenAI, Microsoft has approved OpenAI’s ability to build additional capacity, primarily for research and training of models.”

ChatGPT maker OpenAI will use other cloud infrastructure providers, but Microsoft retains right of first refusal.

If you've read about the Microsoft-OpenAI relationship over the past few years, you'd know that apart from its financial investments, Microsoft was also the exclusive cloud infra provider to OpenAI. While the former is still there,

Microsoft has revised its agreement with OpenAI, allowing the AI company to partner with other cloud service providers (CSPs). However, Microsoft retains the Right of First Refusal (ROFR), giving it a priority to match any competing offers before OpenAI commits to other providers.