• Amazon shares surged 5% in premarket trading following the announcement of a strategic partnership with OpenAI.
  • The deal will make OpenAI's "open weight" AI models available on Amazon's AWS Bedrock and Sagemaker platforms.
  • Nvidia shares extended recent gains, rising as much as 3% as the AI-driven market rally broadened.

Amazon's aggressive push to close the gap with cloud rivals Microsoft and Google received a significant boost Wednesday with the announcement of a partnership that will bring OpenAI's artificial intelligence models to its cloud computing platform. The news sent Amazon shares up 5% in premarket activity, while Nvidia—the dominant supplier of AI chips—saw its stock extend gains by as much as 3%.

The partnership represents a major strategic move for Amazon Web Services, which will now offer OpenAI's models through its AWS Bedrock and Sagemaker services. This positions Amazon's cloud division as a provider of leading-edge generative AI tools for enterprise clients, directly addressing what industry observers had seen as a growing gap between Amazon and competitors who had deeper relationships with AI pioneers.

"This is exactly the kind of partnership AWS needed to remain competitive in the generative AI space," said one technology analyst who asked not to be named because the firm hadn't yet published formal research on the deal. "Enterprise customers want access to the full spectrum of top-tier models, and Amazon can now deliver that."

The announcement comes amid a broader restructuring at Amazon that has included cutting up to 14,000 corporate roles, according to people familiar with the matter. These layoffs, coupled with significant investments in AI infrastructure, signal the company's determination to reallocate resources toward what executives see as the next frontier of cloud computing.

Amazon has also invested up to $8 billion in Anthropic, another AI startup, and offers its "Claude" models to AWS customers. The dual approach of partnering with multiple AI developers while making internal investments reflects the company's comprehensive strategy to capture market share in the rapidly evolving AI services sector.

Nvidia's continued ascent—with shares rising as much as 3% Wednesday—underscores how the AI infrastructure boom continues to benefit the chipmaker whose processors power most advanced AI systems. The broader AI rally appears to be gaining momentum as major cloud providers compete to offer the most comprehensive suite of AI tools to their enterprise customers.

Matt Garman, who recently took over as CEO of AWS, inherits a division that generated $30.9 billion in revenue last quarter, representing 17% year-over-year growth. The OpenAI partnership could help accelerate that growth by attracting new enterprise clients seeking access to cutting-edge AI capabilities without switching cloud providers.

Amazon declined to comment beyond the official announcement, though company representatives confirmed the partnership would be available to AWS customers in the coming months. OpenAI representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for additional comment on the arrangement.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the percentage gain in Nvidia shares. The stock rose as much as 3%, not 4%.