Oracle plugs OpenAI tools into its software and adds new chips to its cloud

Oracle announced on Tuesday that it has deepened its partnership with OpenAI, embedding the AI firm's ChatGPT and Codex directly into its own software applications. The move is designed to make database management more accessible for general users. Mahesh Thiagarajan, Oracle's president of Cloud Infrastructure, stated that this integration allows anyone to build, deploy, and manage applications without specialized technical expertise.

The company is also expanding the hardware options available on its cloud infrastructure. Oracle will now host Google's tensor processing unit chips, OpenAI's Jalapeño chip, and Cerebras processors. This marks the first time Google's custom silicon will run on another major cloud provider's platform. Thiagarajan noted that chip scarcity remains a persistent problem, and offering multiple accelerator types gives customers like OpenAI more flexibility in how they run their models.

When asked if this shift signals a move away from Nvidia GPUs, Thiagarajan said no. He described Nvidia chips as the best and most fungible option in the current market. The expansion of hardware choices is a direct response to the high demand for compute resources. OpenAI president Greg Brockman said in a press release that more businesses are choosing OpenAI because it is easier to implement AI using the tools they already rely on.

Context for this announcement is tight. It comes one day after Anthropic filed its S-1 for an initial public offering. Both companies are aggressively targeting the enterprise market. Oracle's database is central to healthcare and finance sectors for logging and securing data. Thiagarajan observed that OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model was trained at Oracle's Stargate data center campus in Abilene, Texas, and that his team could see the real-time benefits of that proximity.

Oracle is also navigating local opposition for its Project Jupiter data center in New Mexico. The multibillion-dollar site has faced pushback from the Sunland Park community over air quality concerns. A hearing on permits is scheduled for December 7. Oracle sent a force majeure notice to its investor Blue Owl Capital last month due to this political friction, but the company maintains the project is on schedule. Thiagarajan said the company is not worried because it is building global infrastructure.

Financial markets reacted to the news immediately. Cerebras stock rose about 8 percent, while Oracle shares climbed nearly 5 percent on Tuesday. However, Oracle stock is down more than 30 percent for the year. Investors are waiting for an upcoming investor day to see if the company can meet its fiscal year 2030 revenue targets. Bank of America analysts expect the meeting to provide clarity on the status of Oracle's major data center projects and the cost of capital for its cloud deals.