OpenAI and Google reach a major AI distribution agreement
OpenAI will offer GPT-6 Astra and Codex in Google Cloud’s Model Garden within weeks, which puts its models on all 3 major US clouds.
Customers can buy the models through Google Cloud Marketplace and count the purchases against cloud spending they have already committed, which removes a separate procurement step.
Regulated customers can run OpenAI models inside Google Cloud’s access controls and data governance tools when building agentic workflows.
The deal became possible only after April 27, 2026, when Microsoft’s license to OpenAI’s technology turned non-exclusive and Microsoft stopped paying OpenAI a revenue share on Azure resales.
Amazon Web Services was first through that opening, with Codex available on Bedrock by June, while Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner and gets new products first.
Google, a direct OpenAI competitor, had asked the FTC in December 2024 to break up the Microsoft exclusivity, and it also supplies OpenAI with computing capacity under a 2025 deal.