Microsoft has provided its first insight into the financial scope of its partnership with OpenAI. In its Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026, the company reports $24.1 billion in revenue from commercial agreements with the maker of ChatGPT. The exact nature of that revenue remains undisclosed.
According to this Form 10-K, the revenue comes from commercial agreements with OpenAI, including revenue-sharing arrangements. In addition, as of June 30, there were still $6 billion in receivables outstanding from OpenAI.
So, exactly what that figure encompasses is somewhat of a guess. The $24.1 billion will partially include Azure services that OpenAI itself purchased and continues to purchase, payments from the aforementioned revenue-sharing arrangement, and revenue from other agreements.
It is well known that OpenAI’s revenue is difficult to isolate. Microsoft typically reports at the segment level, where OpenAI-related revenue is included in the broader Azure and Intelligent Cloud figures.
A partnership in flux
OpenAI and Microsoft have a long-standing relationship that has since cooled somewhat. The initial agreement was signed back in 2019, when Redmond announced a $1 billion investment. Since then, Microsoft has invested approximately $13 billion in OpenAI, of which $11.9 billion had actually been transferred as of June 30. During a restructuring last year, Microsoft’s stake dropped to 27 percent, down from 32.5 percent. The tech giant will therefore still be able to benefit significantly from a potential OpenAI IPO.
In April, the partnership was revised once again. This came after years of speculation surrounding a strained relationship. Microsoft remains the primary infrastructure partner via Azure, but OpenAI is now permitted to offer its products through any cloud provider. This opened the door for Amazon, which now offers OpenAI models via Bedrock. Google, which is primarily focused on its partnership with Anthropic and its own AI initiatives, remains on the sidelines for now.
The financial ties between Microsoft and OpenAI remain strong. As part of the revised agreements, OpenAI has committed to an additional $250 billion in spending on Azure services over the coming years.
Earlier, a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk revealed that Microsoft internally projected a return of approximately $92 billion on its early investments. Given the delay in the IPO, which was ideally supposed to take place this year but has not yet materialized, it is by no means certain what the value of Microsoft’s investment will ultimately be.