Google CEO Sundar Pichai struck a confident tone during Alphabet’s Q2 earnings call as he praised a new partnership between Google Cloud and OpenAI, the high-profile startup behind ChatGPT. Despite their increasingly direct competition in artificial intelligence, Pichai said the collaboration exemplifies Google Cloud’s commitment to supporting innovation broadly, regardless of competitive pressures.
“We’re very excited to be partnering with OpenAI,” Pichai told investors. “Our cloud platform is designed to be open and flexible, and this partnership reflects that mission. We’re eager to continue growing this relationship.”
The announcement surprised many in the tech community, as Google and OpenAI are widely seen as frontrunners in the ongoing AI arms race. OpenAI’s success with ChatGPT has led to widespread speculation about its potential to disrupt Google’s core search business.
While Pichai presented the collaboration as a win for Google Cloud, some analysts were skeptical. “It’s a calculated risk,” said one industry expert. “Providing your fiercest competitor with the horsepower to outpace you isn’t a common play.”
Google Cloud posted $13.6 billion in revenue for Q2 2025, a 32% year-over-year increase, driven largely by deals with AI firms seeking access to powerful chips like Nvidia GPUs and Google’s own TPUs. In addition to OpenAI, customers include Anthropic, World Labs, and Safe Superintelligence.
The agreement also highlights OpenAI’s need to diversify its compute resources beyond Microsoft Azure, as cloud GPU scarcity continues to strain even the best-funded labs.
Still, concerns persist. As Google ramps up investment in its Gemini AI ecosystem, the company risks inadvertently fast-tracking a rival’s ascent—much like Yahoo did with Google in the early 2000s.
