THE DECODER

OpenAI has signed a $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the agreement. The five-year contract begins in 2027 and ranks among the largest cloud deals ever made. The agreement reportedly includes 4.5 gigawatts of computing capacity - about the same as the electricity consumption of 4 million U.S. households. In its quarterly report covering the period through August 31, Oracle announced contracts worth $317 billion. The WSJ says the bulk of that figure comes from the OpenAI deal. For OpenAI, the move is meant to address ongoing shortages in computing power that have slowed the development of new AI models. Oracle, meanwhile, will likely need to take on debt to pay for the chips required to deliver the capacity. OpenAI had previously worked exclusively with Microsoft. By expanding to Oracle, the company is also tying the deal to its broader infrastructure plan known as Stargate.