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OpenAI brings its frontier models to rival Google Cloud

OpenAI is bringing its AI models and Codex coding tools to Google Cloud, expanding its reach to customers of all three major U.S. cloud providers — including companies that are also among its fiercest AI rivals.Why it matters: The move underscores a growing recognition that winning the enterprise AI race isn't just about building the smartest models. It's also about making those models available wherever businesses already run their software and store their data.For OpenAI, the agreement offers another way to reach corporate customers without requiring them to establish a separate relationship with the ChatGPT-maker.For Google, it means selling a competitor's AI models alongside its own Gemini offerings, potentially capturing business that might otherwise go to rival cloud providers.Driving the news: Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Google Cloud customers will be able to purchase OpenAI's frontier models through Google's "Model Garden and Marketplace," including by using existing cloud spending commitments.The deal also brings OpenAI models to Google's Antigravity development environment and Gemini Agent.General availability is planned in the coming weeks.The big picture: The agreement follows OpenAI's expansion onto Amazon Web Services earlier this year, after changes to its Microsoft partnership opened the door to broader cloud distribution.AWS CEO Matt Garman said at the time that customers had long wanted to run OpenAI models where their existing applications and data already resided.Amazon has since expanded the OpenAI models and services available through its Bedrock platform, although neither company has publicly quantified the additional business generated by the arrangement.What they're saying: Mike Leone, VP and analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said the deal is significant for both companies, particularly because many Google Cloud customers want access to OpenAI models without moving their data."For Google, I read the deal as confidence, because Gemini now has to win those customers with OpenAI sitting right next to it," Leone told Axios.But he doesn't see Google as necessarily hurting Gemini, since customers will still pay Google for its cloud platform, data services and security regardless of which AI models they choose.Yes, but: Distribution is only part of the equation. OpenAI still has to persuade enterprises to choose its models over those from Google, Anthropic and other competitors, many of which are available through the same cloud platforms.That could make the cloud providers' existing enterprise relationships and infrastructure as important as the models they offer."Once every cloud has the top models, I think the competitive advantage goes to whoever does the best job with a company's data, governance, and costs," Leone said.