Background and Revenue Share Details

Leaked internal documents obtained by a tech blogger provide a rare glimpse into the financial relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft. According to the files, Microsoft received $493.8 million in revenue‑share payments from OpenAI for the year 2024 and $865.8 million for the first three quarters of the following year. The documents confirm a 20 percent revenue‑share arrangement that was established after Microsoft invested heavily in the AI startup.

Revenue Estimates

Based on the disclosed 20 percent share, analysts infer that OpenAI’s total revenue exceeded $2.5 billion in 2024 and reached $4.33 billion in the first three quarters of the next year. These figures align with earlier reports that placed the company’s 2024 revenue around $4 billion and its first‑half 2025 revenue near $4.3 billion.

Inference Spending Surge

The documents also detail OpenAI’s cash‑based inference costs – the compute required to run trained models for user queries. In 2024, inference spending was roughly $3.8 billion, and it climbed to about $8.65 billion in the first nine months of the subsequent year. This rapid increase suggests that OpenAI may be spending more on inference than it is earning in revenue.

Funding Structure and Cloud Partnerships

OpenAI has historically relied on Microsoft Azure for the bulk of its compute needs, though it has also pursued agreements with CoreWeave, Oracle, AWS, and Google Cloud. Training expenses, which involve the initial development of models, are largely covered by non‑cash credits awarded by Microsoft as part of its investment, whereas inference expenses are predominantly cash outlays.

Implications and Company Responses

The disparity between revenue and inference costs fuels ongoing debate about the sustainability of OpenAI’s business model and the broader AI investment climate. Both OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment on the leaked information.

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