Microsoft Loses Exclusive Access To OpenAI Models In Partnership Reset Ahead Of Q3 Earnings

• Microsoft will also no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI, and its revenue share with OpenAI will now be subject to a cap.
• This marks a notable shift from the October 2025 update, in which Microsoft and OpenAI said the revenue-sharing agreement would remain in effect until AGI is declared.
• OpenAI can now use other cloud providers for its products, but will continue launching them first on Microsoft Azure unless Microsoft declines to support the rollout.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and OpenAI, on Monday, announced a second amendment to their agreement within six months, with the Windows maker losing exclusive access to OpenAI’s models.

This is a sharp departure from the previous terms, which granted Microsoft exclusive access to OpenAI’s intellectual property for its models and products through 2032.

This comes a month after Microsoft tapped OpenAI rival Anthropic, adding Copilot Cowork to its portfolio of AI-powered tools. The company also announced it would make the latest Claude Sonnet models available to its M365 Copilot users, who previously only had access to OpenAI’s models.

Microsoft shares were down more than 1% in Monday’s opening trade. MSFT was among the top trending tickers on the platform at the time of writing.

Microsoft To Continue To Have A License To OpenAI Models

The announcement stated that Microsoft will continue to hold a license to all of OpenAI’s intellectual property for models and products through 2032, as the two companies had agreed earlier. The key change in this regard is that Microsoft has now lost its exclusivity, allowing OpenAI to license its models to other companies.

Microsoft will also no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI. Simultaneously, OpenAI stated that while Microsoft will continue to receive a share of its revenue through 2030, that share will now be subject to a cap.

This is also a significant departure from the changes to their agreement announced by the two companies in October 2025, in which Microsoft and OpenAI stated that the revenue-sharing agreement would remain in place until the AI startup declared artificial general intelligence (AGI).

OpenAI Free To Choose Other Cloud Providers

OpenAI is now free to choose other cloud providers to serve all its products. The AI startup will continue to ship its products first on Azure, unless Microsoft chooses not to support the rollout.

The October 2025 agreement stated that OpenAI’s Application Programming Interface (API) products developed with third parties would be exclusive to Azure, while only non-API products could be served on other cloud providers.

The two companies had previously stated that there would be Azure API exclusivity until OpenAI achieved AGI.

Microsoft will continue to be OpenAI’s primary cloud provider. The company will also continue to participate directly in OpenAI’s growth as a major shareholder, having invested more than $13 billion since 2019.

Microsoft’s Q3 Earnings Ahead

Microsoft and OpenAI’s agreement changes come days ahead of the former’s third-quarter (Q3) earnings.

According to data from Fiscal.ai, Microsoft is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $4.06 on revenue of $81.43 billion.

The company reported EPS of $3.46 on revenue of $70.07 billion during the same period a year ago.

Microsoft is scheduled to report its Q3 earnings after the bell on Wednesday, April 29.

How Did Retail Traders React?

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Microsoft trended in the ‘neutral’ territory, with message volumes at ‘normal’ levels at the time of writing.

One bullish user thinks that this is good for Microsoft since it will not be solely dependent on OpenAI.

Another user called the decline in Microsoft stock an overreaction.

MSFT stock is down 13% year-to-date, but up 7% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up 30% over the past 12 months, while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) is up 40%.

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