OpenAI to spend $100 billion over five years on backup servers, the Information reports

(Reuters) – OpenAI plans to spend about $100 billion renting backup servers from cloud providers over the next five years, the Information reported on Friday, citing company executives’ discussions with shareholders.

This expenditure is in addition to the $350 billion the artificial intelligence firm has already projected to spend on server rentals from cloud providers this year through 2030, the report said.

Companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to secure supply-constrained computing capacity as they race to develop the most sophisticated AI models, benefiting cloud service providers and chipmakers.

Including the backup servers, OpenAI plans to spend about $85 billion a year on server rentals over the next five years, on average, the report said citing the company’s private projections.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

OpenAI executives say the servers are “monetizable” because they will help the company gain additional revenue it has not yet included in projections, either by powering research breakthroughs or a surge in product usage, the report said.

The ChatGPT creator expects to burn around $115 billion in cash through 2029 as it ramps up spending to power its artificial intelligence models, the Information reported earlier this month.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)