Do it, Sam: Oracle and OpenAI collaboration will launch a new wave of AI race

The largest-ever deal between Oracle and OpenAI risks creating a dominant force in the artificial intelligence market. Under the terms of the agreement, the former will purchase $300 billion worth of computing power from the latter to create an AI infrastructure. The deal made Oracle CEO Larry Ellison the richest man on the planet in a day, pushing Elon Musk to second place. What will be the consequences and what does Donald Trump's ambitious Stargate project have to do with it — in the Izvestia article.

The largest deal in the field of AI

The deal between Oracle and OpenAI is not just a large contract for cloud capacity, it is a strategic move, according to technology experts interviewed by Izvestia.

"It restarts the entire architecture of the global artificial intelligence race," said Igor Bederov, Head of the Information and Analytical Research Department at T.Hunter.

This agreement jeopardizes the prospects of the Donald Trump project: two of the three key participants in Stargate concluded it bypassing previous agreements with SoftBank Group and its president Masayoshi Son, added Ivan Kalmykov, an IT expert at the Department of Esports at the Faculty of Gaming Industry and Esports at Synergy University.

On September 10, it became known that OpenAI, represented by Sam Altman, signed a deal with Oracle, represented by Larry Ellison, to purchase computing power for AI development in the amount of $300 billion for a period of five years. This is the largest deal in the field of AI, comparable to The Stargate Project complex, so actively advertised by Donald Trump in January 2025.

Thanks to this contract, Larry Ellison came out on top in the Bloomberg billionaires ranking, his fortune reached $393 billion. The one-day capital increase amounted to $101 billion. Elon Musk holds the second place and $385 billion, according to the agency. The new Oracle infrastructure does not have a name yet.

According to industry sources, the operation of such a data center will require a capacity of 4.5 gigawatts, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of about 4 million homes.

Due to the fact that the first tranche of $ 100 billion for the Stargate project has not been allocated to the performers since January 2025, the largest data center project in the United States in Abilene, Texas, may be included in the terms of the OpenAI and Oracle deal, Igor Bederov believes. In this case, the Donald Trump project will be postponed indefinitely, he added.

At the same time, the head of the SoftBank Group in August proposed to a third party, TSMC, the largest manufacturer of microchips and semiconductors, to invest another $1 trillion in Stargate. This project has great difficulties due to the disunity of allies and difficulties with financing, he explained.

"We are moving from the stage of startups and research to the stage of industrial, capital—intensive AI exploitation, where the one with the most data and computing resources will win," the expert concluded.

The AI Technology Race

China will respond to the challenge of the United States by increasing government support and investment in AI infrastructure, Igor Bederov is confident. In January 2025, China announced the AI Industry Development Action Plan with a budget of 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) for five years. Beijing will develop AI in areas where it is already strong, such as robotics, bio-manufacturing and materials. The country is also striving to reduce dependence on Western technologies, the expert said.

— China will react symmetrically. We have already seen the announcement of a large-scale government program to support the AI industry. We should expect an acceleration in the consolidation of the efforts of Chinese tech giants (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) under the auspices of the state to create their own ecosystem, completely independent of Western technologies, including chips and software," added Ivan Kalmykov.

Russia will continue to follow its own path: in 2025, a multiple acceleration of the introduction of AI in key industries such as finance, agriculture, healthcare and transport is expected, Igor Bederov believes. In parallel, a model law on AI is being developed, which unifies legislation in this area. This will create a legal basis for the development of technology.

— Companies will move to a data-centric model, where data becomes a key asset. In addition, the focus of the Russian economy will gradually begin to shift towards a more active transfer of technologies and goods abroad," the specialist said.

In conditions of sanctions pressure and limited access to advanced GPUs, it is pointless to try to follow the path of OpenAI or Chinese colleagues, Ivan Kalmykov believes. The main trend will be cooperation within the framework of BRICS — the creation of a single research and technology space with partners, primarily with China, for the exchange of data, personnel and solutions.

— For the Russian economy, it is necessary to adjust the technological strategy: instead of direct competition in the production of chips, we should focus on applied solutions with rapid economic impact. It is important to conclude agreements on access to computing power with friendly countries and their energy companies," said Alexey Parfun, Vice President of ACAR, co—chairman of the AI Committee, and expert at ROCIT.

According to him, Russia should optimize algorithms for affordable equipment, develop open source and engineering approaches that reduce the cost of computing. Efficiency should be measured not by the cost of the AI model, but by the specific energy consumption per unit of useful result. Today, technological leadership depends not on the quality of algorithms, but on the scale of infrastructure and long—term contracts for energy and semiconductors - everything else is secondary.

Russian companies are now looking for ways to lower the barrier to entry into generative AI. The Russian market is gradually moving from the stage of "playing with chatbots" to system implementations, where AI is embedded in real processes - document management, customer service, analytics, said Sergey Lebedev, commercial director of GreenData.

Alexey Vaganov, technical architect of 1C PRO Consulting, pointed out inexpensive electricity and a high level of technical specialists as the main competitive advantages of the Russian Federation. At the same time, global competition is difficult for political reasons.

— The Russian AI market is not yet a global trendsetter, its focus is on adapting global trends to the specifics of Russian—speaking segments. Domestic solutions are usually more secure in terms of information security, more accurately take into account the semantics of the Russian language and are often more effective: they provide better quality with significantly less computing resources," said Igor Alutin, Senior Managing Director of the Moscow Stock Exchange for retail business, electronic platform development and the Finuslugi project.

Artificial intelligence is actively used in the Russian public sector, including to increase efficiency, said Lyudmila Bogatyreva, head of the Polylog Agency's IT department. For example, as part of the national project "Safe, high-quality Roads," AI is used to prioritize highway repairs. This makes it possible to reduce the time for ambulances to reach hospitals, which, in turn, improves the performance of the national Healthcare project and has a noticeable economic effect.

According to her, the government's work is specifically about advisory AI, and the final decision always rests with officials.