# OpenAI uses cloud partners to shift compute spending toward opex

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/openai-uses-cloud-partners-to-shift-compute-spending-toward/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Sarah Friar](https://realalpha.app/builders/sarah-friar/) · Sarah Friar is CFO of OpenAI. · Leads OpenAI's finance as CFO; previously oversaw Square's 2015 IPO and helped take Nextdoor public as CEO.
- Host: [Chamath Palihapitiya](https://realalpha.app/people/chamath-palihapitiya/) · Founder & CEO, Social Capital · Led Facebook's growth team; his firm backed Slack and AI chipmaker Groq.
- Host: [Jason Calacanis](https://realalpha.app/people/jason-calacanis/) · Founder & CEO, LAUNCH · Early Uber angel; sold Weblogs Inc. to AOL; hosts This Week in Startups.
- Host: [David Sacks](https://realalpha.app/people/david-sacks/) · Co-founder & partner, Craft Ventures · PayPal's first COO, founded Yammer; White House AI & crypto czar 2025–26.
- Host: [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) · CEO, Ohalo · Founded The Climate Corporation, sold to Monsanto for about $1.1B in 2013.
- Show: All-In
- Episode: [OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: IPO, AI Rivalries, New Device, and Spending $100B+ on Compute](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/), Jun 2, 2026
- Moment: 22:33 to 25:48 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/openai-uses-cloud-partners-to-shift-compute-spending-toward/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1353

## Quote

> “what CSPs do for us, in effect, is they **shift CapEx into OpEx**.”
> — [Sarah Friar](https://realalpha.app/builders/sarah-friar/) at [23:36](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1416) · All-In

## Takeaways

1. OpenAI pays cloud providers as it uses their data centers.
2. Friar says OpenAI now works with every major cloud provider.
3. Multiple chip suppliers help OpenAI stay near the frontier.

## About this segment

Sarah Friar explains how multiple cloud and chip partners give OpenAI more ways to secure compute. Using cloud providers shifts some infrastructure costs from capital spending to operating expenses.

From “OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: IPO, AI Rivalries, New Device, and Spending $100B+ on Compute”, Jun 2, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[22:35](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1355) capital needs as you do that modeling? Maybe even more specific. So the estimates I've seen is that to stand up one gigawatt of AI compute costs about $50 billion in land, power, shell, chips, everything, all in around $50 billion. Do you have to front all of that money when you create a new data center? Or how much of it do you do? How much of it can you get debt for? Does $100 billion raise only get you two gigawatts, or does it get you five? What does it get you? It's a great question. So if you look at our compute strategy, and it's crazy how fast the world has changed. So just two years ago, we were literally one. We had one CSP we worked with, Microsoft, Azure. We sat on one chip, NVIDIA. We had one product, ChatGPT, one price point, $20 a month. So I often use a Rubik's cube as kind of my metaphor. So we were like one cube in the bottom. Today, if you look at our strategy,

[23:35](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1415) it's been to go, first of all, multiple CSPs, because what CSPs do for us, in effect, is they shift CapEx into OpEx. So you pay as you get the revenue, so as you're actually utilizing the data centers. So in effect, we are writing somewhat on their ability to build CapEx and financing. So today we sit on top of every CSP, Oracle, CoreWeave, Microsoft. GCP, AWS, and a bunch of small neo-scalers. On the chip side, we've also gone for a program of being multi-chip because we want to make sure you're always on the frontier.

[24:11](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1451) I think if you're only on one chip, there's just inherently a moment where you can't be on the frontier because there's some leapfrogging that happens. So today, NVIDIA remains our absolute priority partner. They have the frontier chip. Our next big trading run in the fall will be done on Vera Rubens. We're really excited about that. And now we're plotting kind of the Feynman series. that's coming. But we also now have chips in the pipeline from AMD. Cerebris is already online.

[24:36](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1476) It's been an incredible low latency chip, great for devs, for example, that want real-time coding. And there's our own chip that we're working on with Broadcom. And then beyond that, there's other ways we've diversified. So now think about that RubikCube. It's become much more multi-dimensional and it allows us to effectively utilize investment grade CSPs in order to be able to go fast and push it back to be more OpEx, not CapEx. Now, we are starting to shift gears into more of a built-to-suit type environment. We announced a data center we're building with SoftBank Energy down in Texas. That's the beginning of something that's beyond a CSP. There's a little bit more CapEx required there. And then finally, I think as the world progresses, remember we've done all that just in two years. The reason I like a Rubik's Cube is, again, please chat GPT this,

[25:26](https://realalpha.app/v/TjrShuj_Zsg/?t=1526) but I think a Rubik's Cube has something like a quintillion different forms it can come up with. And so it just gives us a lot of optionality. So remember what I said, my job is maximum optionality. And in a moment where I'm not yet an investment grade type of entity, where I can go get lower cost debt financing, being able to work with partners to do that is really important.