Microsoft and OpenAI redraw the deal: Azure first, new payout ends

The AI industry’s most consequential commercial alliance just got simpler. In a post published on April 27, Microsoft said it amended its agreement with OpenAI, giving both companies more room to move while preserving Azure’s privileged role. That matters because the old structure tied cloud access, IP rights and revenue sharing into one of the market’s load-bearing deals.

The core operating rule survives. Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, and OpenAI products will ship first on Azure unless Microsoft cannot, and chooses not to, support the required capabilities. But the exclusivity is now visibly softer: OpenAI can serve all of its products to customers across any cloud provider. For enterprise buyers, that means a clearer multi-cloud future for OpenAI even while Azure keeps first call on launches.

The money and IP terms changed just as sharply. Microsoft keeps a license to OpenAI intellectual property for models and products through 2032, but the license is now non-exclusive. Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI. In the other direction, OpenAI will continue paying Microsoft a revenue share through 2030 at the same percentage as before, subject to a total cap.

Microsoft also said it remains a major OpenAI shareholder, so this is not a breakup. It is a rewiring. OpenAI gets more commercial freedom to distribute broadly, while Microsoft keeps preferential cloud status, long-dated IP access and a direct economic stake in OpenAI’s growth. That is a meaningful reset for a partnership that has shaped procurement, cloud strategy and model distribution across the industry.

The next question is practical, not symbolic. Will OpenAI now expand more aggressively across rival clouds without weakening Azure’s position as the first destination for new flagship releases? The amended deal does not end the alliance. It makes the boundaries more explicit, and that alone changes how customers, competitors and cloud partners will model the next phase of the AI market.