Key Takeaways
- OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has now partnered with Google Cloud for computing services.
- Sundar Pichai, the Google CEO, mentions in the earnings call for Q2 2025 that the company is excited about the partnership, showing enthusiasm.
- Google Cloud’s revenue is getting a boost with the added services, however, it is further increasing the competition tension with OpenAI threatening Google Search.
- Other large AI labs including Anthropic, World Labs, and Safe Superintelligence are already Google Cloud customers, and now they are joined by OpenAI.
- Google continues to develop its own AI products like Gemini and AI Overviews, however, monetization strategies for them is still unclear.
Google Partners with OpenAI for Cloud AI Services
Google has now entered a partnership with OpenAI, one of the leading competitors in the AI world. This new partnership permits OpenAI to access and utilize the computing resources of Google Cloud for the training and deployment of their AI models.
During the earnings call for the second quarter of 2025, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed the partnership and mentioned that he is ‘very excited’ about it.
Pichai stated, “Google Cloud is an open platform. We have always supported great startups and AI labs. This is no different.”
This partnership showcases and further cements Google Cloud’s position as a neutral cloud provider that services customers, even if they are competitors to Google products.
Why Google Is Doing This — Even If It’s Risky
This collaboration may feel strange at first. Let’s remember that ChatGPT by OpenAI is one of the biggest threats to Google Search, which is still the backbone of Google’s revenue.
So why exactly would Google consider helping?
This is the primary reasoning that heavily favors Google:
- Google is receiving record amounts of revenue in other areas, specifically in the cloud. Google Cloud received $13.6 billion in revenue in Q2 of 2025, an increase from $10.6 billion in the previous year.
- AI startups are in desperate need of computing resources, in which Google possesses the necessary GPUs and TPUs.
- The more Google Cloud gets used by AI labs, the more Google gets paid, even in competitive fields.
That still maintains a careful balance, Google OpenAI is using cloud services that can create resources, products, or services that can redirect Google’s traffic and revenue stream from Search.
OpenAI’s Cloud Needs Go Beyond Microsoft
Until now, OpenAI had relied primarily on Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. However, OpenAI scaling has become extremely difficult with the current shortage of GPUs. This has caused the company to seek other options, including Google and Oracle, who are notoriously known as direct competitors.
OpenAI quietly added Google Cloud as a vendor in early July, listing Oracle and Microsoft alongside. June’s rumors that were published by Reuters suggest this was in the works.
We can now confirm that Google is one of the cloud providers for OpenAI.
Google’s Own AI Tools Keep Growing
While supporting OpenAI, Google is still advancing its own AI products.
During the released earnings call, Google shared the following information:
- His flagship chatbot, Gemini, now boasts of 450 million monthly active users.
- AI Overviews, Google’s summarizing AI search, is shown to over 2 billion users a month.
These figures, although remarkable, raise the question of what actual revenue is being generated, and what impact, if any, these tools are having on Google Search’s shre of the market.
Google Cloud Becomes a Top AI Provider
The Google Cloud has recently become one of the AI providers of choice for the leading AI laboratories in the world.
- Along with OpenAI, Google Cloud now services:
- Claude’s mother company, Anthropic.
- World Labs, founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li
Safe Superintelligence, the new company by former OpenAI co-founder, Ilya Sutskever.
As for why these clients are getting cloud services, Pichai credits this success Google’s large inventory of Nvidia GPUs and its custom made TPU chips, which are crucial for training and executing big AI models, through the rigorous demanding tests.
Is History Repeating Itself?
Some analysts have drawn parallels between now and the early 2000s when Google was an up-and-coming company assisting Yahoo with its search engine, only to later dominate Yahoo and the rest of the web.
Could OpenAI replay that storyline? Only time will tell. However, the past echoes of tech rivalries are resurfacing, and this underscores the perils of aiding a competitor, even if the motivation is expansion.
“It’s hard to believe Pichai is truly excited about collaborating with a company that is, in many ways, a competitor.”
Summary: What This Means for the Future
- Google and OpenAI have consolidated their partnership, with OpenAI explicitly named as a cloud partner.
- Google Cloud’s revenue sees a significant increase. However, this revenue boost also brings with it risks of competition.
- Because of GPU shortages, OpenAI is finding ways to move beyond Microsoft.
- However, GP, Google’s own AI tools, are also rapidly expanding. Gemini’s growth is positive but its impact on the business is still unknown.
- This example shows how AI competition and cooperation can exist simultaneously.
Final Thoughts
Google is going all in on being the AI industry’s infrastructure, even if that means partnering with its biggest competitors. The OpenAI deal shows that, at least for the time being, infrastructure deals trump corporate deals.
As AI continues to evolve the ways we use the internet, it will be Google’s services supporting the very tools that violate its core business.
We are just scratching the surface. This partnership marks the start of a new era in technology. The potential is massive, but that’s the full picture.