OpenAI reportedly plans to buy Google’s TPU chips alongside Nvidia

OpenAI plans to buy AI chips from Google, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The financial terms and other details of the planned purchase were not disclosed.

We have not independently verified the report, and OpenAI declined to comment to Reuters, which followed up on the story, while Google did not immediately respond to the news agency.

The chips are Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), processors built specifically for AI work. A purchase would mark a shift for OpenAI, which is among the largest buyers of Nvidia’s graphics processors.

It would also give Google a major customer for chips it has only recently started selling. In April, Google said it would sell TPU hardware directly to a small group of customers, who can run the chips in their own data centres.

Demand has grown on the back of deals with customers including Anthropic. In fact, Google has sold so much TPU capacity that its own researchers have had to wait for access.

Alphabet’s finance chief, Anat Ashkenazi, has said the company expects to book a small share of TPU sales revenue by the end of this year. Most of it will come in 2027, she said.

OpenAI and Google compete in AI products and search, but their business ties are growing. Last week, OpenAI said its frontier models would become available on Google Cloud, after a similar move with Amazon Web Services.

The relationship has shifted before. In June 2025, Reuters reported that OpenAI had begun renting Google’s chips. Soon after, however, OpenAI said it had no active plans to use them in its products.

At the same time, OpenAI is building its own hardware. In June, it unveiled its first custom AI chip, designed with Broadcom, and plans to put it into use by the end of this year.

The report comes as tech groups spend heavily on AI computing. Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet plan to spend as much as $600bn combined on AI infrastructure this year, according to Reuters.

Alphabet reports its quarterly results later today.

With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate (show all) With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate with our target audience in the software/SaaS industry. Collaboration and teamwork are paramount to her, as she loves empowering her colleagues to achieve outstanding results and unlock their full potential.

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