How much has Microsoft invested in AI companies?

Microsoft has invested over $18 billion in AI companies, including $13B+ in OpenAI and $5B+ in Anthropic. In return, both companies run their AI models on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure.

Who are Anthropic's major investors?

Anthropic has four major investors: Amazon ($8B), Microsoft ($5B+), Google ($2-3B), and Nvidia (equity stake). All four are competitors hedging against each other, and Anthropic uses cloud/compute services from each of them.

What is a circular AI investment deal?

A circular AI investment deal is when a company invests money in an AI startup, and that startup then spends a significant portion on the investor's products (like cloud computing or chips). For example, Microsoft invested $5B in Anthropic, and Anthropic committed to spending $30B on Microsoft Azure.

What companies were founded by ex-OpenAI employees?

Major companies founded by ex-OpenAI employees include: Anthropic (11 founders including Dario and Daniela Amodei), Safe Superintelligence/SSI (Ilya Sutskever), xAI (Elon Musk), Perplexity (Aravind Srinivas), Thinking Machines Lab (Mira Murati), and Eureka Labs (Andrej Karpathy).

What is OpenAI's current valuation in 2025?

OpenAI is valued at approximately $500 billion as of late 2025, making it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

What percentage of the AI chip market does Nvidia control?

Nvidia controls approximately 92% of the AI chip market, making virtually every major AI company dependent on their GPUs for training and running AI models.

🔄 AI Industry Interconnections

How every major AI company became intertwined through investments, cloud deals, and shared talent

Investment $$$

Cloud/Compute Revenue

Circular Flow

Staff Movement

"We are increasingly going to be customers of each other."

— Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

$200B+

Investment flowing between players

90+

Strategic partnerships identified

Unicorns from OpenAI exodus

💰 The Circular Money-and-Compute Machine

The AI industry in 2025 isn't a competitive marketplace—it's an interconnected web. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Nvidia aren't just competing; they're simultaneously investing in, partnering with, and becoming customers of each other.

Investment dollars flow out... and come right back as cloud revenue. The diagram below maps $200B+ in circular deals between these companies. Data sourced from Wired's reporting by Steven Levy.

Investment

Cloud/Compute spend

Chip dependency

🔄 The Circular Nature of These Deals

In most of these arrangements, investment dollars flow out and come right back as guaranteed cloud or chip revenue.

Microsoft → OpenAI → Microsoft

Microsoft invested $13B+. OpenAI runs exclusively on Azure.

The original circular deal that started it all.

Microsoft → Anthropic → Microsoft

Microsoft invested $5B+. Anthropic committed to $30B in Azure spend.

6x return in guaranteed cloud revenue.

Nvidia → OpenAI → Nvidia

Nvidia invested $100B. OpenAI runs entirely on Nvidia GPUs.

Nvidia locks in their biggest AI customer.

Nvidia → Anthropic → Nvidia

Nvidia invested equity stake. Anthropic builds on Nvidia architecture.

Jensen Huang called it "a dream come true."

Amazon → Anthropic → Amazon

Amazon invested $8B. Anthropic uses AWS + 1M Trainium chips.

Amazon's largest venture investment ever... into their own cloud.

Google → Anthropic → Google

Google invested $2-3B. Anthropic uses 1M+ Google TPUs.

Google funds a competitor that pays Google for chips.

📊 Major Investment Flows

From	To	Investment	What They Get Back	Circular?
Microsoft	OpenAI	$13B+	OpenAI runs exclusively on Azure	🔄 YES
Microsoft	Anthropic	$5B+	Anthropic commits $30B to Azure	🔄 YES
Nvidia	OpenAI	$100B	OpenAI runs on Nvidia GPUs	🔄 YES
Nvidia	Anthropic	Undisclosed	Anthropic builds on Nvidia architecture	🔄 YES
Nvidia	xAI, Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft	Chip sales	92% market share - everyone needs Nvidia	🔄 YES
Amazon	Anthropic	$8B	Claude on AWS Bedrock + Trainium chips	🔄 YES
Google	Anthropic	$2-3B	Anthropic uses 1M+ Google TPUs	🔄 YES
Google	SSI	Cloud partnership	SSI uses Google Cloud TPUs	🔄 YES
SoftBank	OpenAI (Stargate)	$100B+ committed	Infrastructure equity	⭐ Stargate
Oracle	OpenAI (Stargate)	Infrastructure	Cloud compute contracts	⭐ Stargate
Abu Dhabi (MGX)	Stargate Initiative	Sovereign wealth	AI infrastructure access	⭐ Stargate
Meta	SSI (attempted)	Acquisition offer	Rebuffed by Sutskever	❌
Meta	Google (exploring)	Potential deal	Considering Google TPUs	🔄 Possible

🎯 The Anthropic Situation: Everyone's Hedge

Anthropic is simultaneously funded by competitors who are all hedging against each other:

Amazon

$8B

AWS + Trainium

Microsoft

$5B+

Azure compute

Google

$2-3B

TPU chips

Nvidia

Equity

GPU architecture

Valuation jump: $183B → $350B in two months

🚪 The OpenAI Exodus

ChatGPT's biggest competitors were nearly all founded by ex-OpenAI employees

Anthropic 11 Ex-OpenAI

Dario Amodei

Former VP of Research at OpenAI → CEO

Daniela Amodei

Former VP of Safety at OpenAI → President

John Schulman

OpenAI Co-founder → Joined 2024

Jan Leike

Led Superalignment at OpenAI → Safety Lead

+ 7 more founders

Built GPT-2 and GPT-3

Safe Superintelligence Ex-OpenAI

Ilya Sutskever

OpenAI Co-founder & Chief Scientist → CEO

Daniel Levy

Former OpenAI Researcher → Co-founder

$32B valuation with no product yet

xAI Ex-OpenAI

Elon Musk

OpenAI Co-founder → Founded xAI

Kyle Kosic

Former OpenAI → Co-founder & Infrastructure Lead

Also hired from Google, DeepMind, Microsoft

Perplexity Ex-OpenAI

Aravind Srinivas

Former OpenAI Research Scientist → CEO

Thinking Machines Lab Ex-OpenAI

Mira Murati

Former OpenAI CTO → Founder

Raising $2B before launching a product

Eureka Labs Ex-OpenAI

Andrej Karpathy

Founding member of OpenAI → Founder

"No company is going to be immune, including us."

— Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, on what happens if the AI bubble pops

This visualization was inspired by Steven Levy's excellent reporting in Wired.

Read the original article →

📌 Key Takeaways: AI Industry Interconnections 2025

1. $200B+ in circular investments — Tech giants invest in AI startups, who then spend that money on the investor's cloud services and chips.
2. Anthropic has 4 competing investors — Amazon ($8B), Microsoft ($5B+), Google ($2-3B), and Nvidia all invested in the same company.
3. Nvidia supplies everyone — With 92% market share in AI chips, every major AI company depends on Nvidia GPUs.
4. 7+ unicorns from OpenAI exodus — Nearly every major ChatGPT competitor was founded by former OpenAI employees.
5. OpenAI's original mission failed — Founded in 2015 to prevent corporate AI control, it's now worth $500B and central to the corporate web.

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