Databricks Pledges $100M Investment in OpenAI for AI Development

Two of the most highly valued tech startups, OpenAI and Databricks, are forging a deeper collaboration as enterprises increasingly seek to leverage the power of generative AI on their proprietary data. Databricks, the data analytics software powerhouse, announced Thursday a multi-year, $100 million commitment to OpenAI, signaling a strategic alignment aimed at simplifying the integration of its customers’ data with OpenAI’s advanced models, including the recently unveiled GPT-5.

This partnership arrives at a critical juncture for both companies. OpenAI, riding the wave of its groundbreaking ChatGPT technology and a staggering $500 billion valuation, is strategically moving beyond consumer applications to solidify its presence in the enterprise sector. Databricks, fresh off a funding round that valued the company at over $100 billion, seeks to empower its clients with seamless access to cutting-edge AI capabilities, thereby unlocking unprecedented insights and efficiency from their data assets.

“Our aspiration is a multiple” of the $100 million spending commitment in terms of revenue the agreement will generate, said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s operating chief, highlighting the mutual benefits and significant growth potential anticipated from this collaboration.

While Databricks has established similar partnerships with other AI players like Google and Anthropic, the sheer scale of OpenAI’s user base – with over 700 million weekly users engaging with ChatGPT powered by GPT-5 – gives this collaboration a unique dimension. This integration not only provides Databricks customers with access to state-of-the-art AI, but also offers OpenAI a crucial foothold within the enterprise data ecosystem.

The move underscores a broader trend of AI companies pushing into the enterprise space. Even with Microsoft already integrating OpenAI models into businesses, governments, and schools, OpenAI is actively building its own dedicated sales function, further solidifying its commitment to serving enterprise clients directly. This partnership with Databricks represents a significant step in that direction.

According to Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, the partnership dramatically simplifies the process for customers who are already using, or looking to leverage, OpenAI’s models. Previously, integrating proprietary OpenAI models with internal data stored within Databricks required complex configuration, extensive legal reviews, and rigorous security sign-offs. Now, he explained, “The key difference here is that any database customer automatically now, just by clicking in the UI, can start using this product,” at a price point comparable to going directly to OpenAI.

Mastercard’s chief AI and data officer, Greg Ulrich, expressed optimism about the integration, noting that it “enables opportunity for research and targeted experimentation, using AI to solve new problems, bringing value to customers, enhancing employee productivity, in an environment that we trust, that we know.”

The competitive landscape remains fierce. Snowflake, with its $75 billion market cap, is also vying for AI integration, expanding its partnership with Microsoft to enable the use of OpenAI models. Oracle, backed by a $300 billion cloud contract from OpenAI, is launching a service to run Google, OpenAI, and xAI models on data stored within its database software

Databricks boasts over $4 billion in annualized revenue, with 50% year-over-year growth, including $1 billion from AI products, it’s position remains dominant, and OpenAI and Databricks ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list.