内容来源：https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/12/why-the-oracle-openai-deal-caught-wall-street-by-surprise/

内容总结：

本周，OpenAI与甲骨文公司意外达成一项为期五年、总价3000亿美元的云计算合作协议，引发市场震动。这笔交易推动甲骨文股价飙升，也提醒业界——尽管被视为传统科技企业，甲骨文仍在人工智能基础设施领域占据重要地位。

对OpenAI而言，这笔天价算力采购协议暴露出其惊人的资源需求。尽管该公司未明确说明算力来源的电力供应方案及支付方式，但其斥资600亿美元采购甲骨文算力、另投入100亿美元与博通合作开发定制AI芯片的系列举措，已凸显对算力扩张的迫切性。

高德纳副总裁奇拉格·德凯特指出，OpenAI通过多元云策略分散风险并获得规模优势，正在构建"全球最全面的超算基础架构"。尽管市场对甲骨文参与AI竞赛存在质疑，但专家强调该司曾为TikTok美国业务提供基础设施支持，具备处理超大规模项目的核心能力。

值得关注的是，OpenAI虽宣布年经常性收入突破100亿美元（去年为55亿美元），但每年现金消耗高达数十亿美元。与此同时，算力所需的能源保障仍是悬而未决的问题——全美数据中心耗电量预计到2040年将占总用电量的14%。目前科技企业正通过收购太阳能农场、核电站及地热项目确保能源供应，而OpenAI则可能通过甲骨文代管基础设施，保持"轻资产"运营模式以维持其软件型AI企业的估值定位。

中文翻译：

本周，OpenAI与甲骨文达成为期五年、价值三千亿美元的意外协议震撼市场，这笔新兴业务浪潮推动这家云服务提供商的股价飙升。但市场或许本不该如此惊讶——该协议提醒我们，尽管甲骨文被视为传统企业，仍在AI基础设施领域扮演重要角色。

对OpenAI而言，这份协议透露的信息远比表面细节更值得玩味。其一，这家初创公司愿意为算力支付巨额资金，彰显了其发展野心（尽管其算力所需的电力来源与资金支付方式仍不明确）。

研究机构Gartner副总裁奇拉格·德卡特向TechCrunch表示，双方的合作意向有清晰逻辑。他指出OpenAI与多家基础设施提供商合作具有战略意义：既实现基础设施多元化（将风险分散至多个云服务商），又使OpenAI相比竞争对手获得扩展优势。"OpenAI似乎正在构建全球最全面的超大规模AI超级计算基础架构，并适时实现推理扩展，"德卡特评价道，"这种模式独具特色，堪称模型生态系统的典范。"

部分行业观察者对甲骨文的参与表示意外，认为相较于谷歌、微软Azure和AWS等云服务竞争对手，该公司在AI浪潮中的存在感已减弱。但德卡特认为这种观点有失偏颇：甲骨文此前曾与超大规模供应商合作，并为TikTok在美国的大规模业务提供基础设施支撑。"经过数十年发展，他们已构建出能提供极致规模与性能的核心基础设施能力，这已成为其云基础设施的核心组成部分。"

虽然股市为这笔交易欢呼，但关键细节仍然缺失，电力与资金问题尚未解决。过去一年OpenAI宣布了一系列基础设施投资计划，金额均令人咋舌：承诺向甲骨文支付约600亿美元年算力费用，另拨款100亿美元与博通合作开发定制AI芯片。

今年6月OpenAI宣布年经常性收入达100亿美元（去年为55亿美元），收入来源包括消费级产品、ChatGPT企业产品及API服务。尽管CEO萨姆·奥特曼在用户增长、产品线和收入方面描绘了美好前景，公司每年仍要烧掉数十亿美元现金。

电力是另一大问题——具体而言是企业计划从何处获取支撑这种算力规模的能源。虽然行业观察者预测天然气将短期走强，但在许多市场太阳能与电池储能显然能更快以更低成本供电科技公司同时也在核能领域重金押注。

尽管头条新闻影响市场波动，OpenAI预期增长对能源的影响并非完全意外。荣鼎集团昨日报告显示，到2040年全美数据中心耗电量预计将占总用电量的14%。

算力始终是AI公司的制约因素，以致投资者大量采购英伟达芯片来保障初创公司的算力需求：安德森·霍洛维茨基金据称购入超2万块GPU，纳特·弗里德曼与丹尼尔·格罗斯则租用了4000块GPU集群（尽管该集群现可能归Meta所有）。

但没有电力支撑的算力毫无价值。为保障数据中心持续运转，大型科技公司纷纷收购太阳能发电场、购买核电站并与地热初创企业签约。迄今为止OpenAI在这方面相对沉默——虽然奥特曼个人投资了Oklo、Helion和Exowatt等能源企业，但公司并未像谷歌、Meta或亚马逊那样直接投入资金。

随着45亿瓦特算力协议的推进，这种情况可能即将改变。OpenAI可能通过支付费用让甲骨文处理实体基础设施（后者在此领域经验丰富），正如奥特曼投资与其未来电力需求契合的初创公司。这种"轻资产"模式无疑将取悦投资者，并使估值与其他以软件为核心的AI初创公司保持同步，而非受制于背负昂贵基础设施的传统科技公司。

英文来源：

This week, OpenAI and Oracle shocked the markets with a surprise $300 billion, five-year agreement, part of a surge of new business that sent the cloud provider’s stock skyrocketing. But maybe the markets shouldn’t have been taken by surprise. The deal is a reminder that, despite Oracle’s legacy status, the company still plays a major role in AI infrastructure.
On the OpenAI side, the agreement was more revealing than the lack of details suggest. For one, the startup’s willingness to pay so much for compute provides a measurement of the startup’s appetite — even if it’s unclear where the electricity to power said compute is coming from or how it will pay for it.
Chirag Dekate, a vice president at research firm Gartner, told TechCrunch it’s clear why both sides were interested in this deal. It makes sense for OpenAI to work with several infrastructure providers, he noted. It also diversifies the company’s infrastructure — spreading out risk among several cloud providers — and gives OpenAI a scaling advantage compared to competitors.
“OpenAI seems to be putting together one of the most comprehensive global AI supercomputing foundations for extreme scale, inference scaling where appropriate,” Dekate said. “This is quite unique. This is probably exemplary of what a model ecosystem should look like.”
Some industry watchers expressed surprise that Oracle was involved, citing the company’s diminished role in the AI boom compared to cloud rivals like Google, Microsoft Azure, and AWS. But Dekate argues that observers shouldn’t be so surprised: Oracle has worked with hyperscalers before and provides the infrastructure for TikTok’s sizable U.S. business.
“Over the decades, they actually built core infrastructure capabilities that enabled them to deliver extreme scale and performance as a core part of their cloud infrastructure,” Dekate said.
Payment and power
But even as the stock market celebrates the deal, key details are missing and questions around power and payment remain.
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OpenAI has made a string of infrastructure investment announcements over the past year, each one with an eye-popping price tag. OpenAI has committed to spend around $60 billion a year for compute from Oracle and $10 billion to develop custom AI chips with Broadcom.
Meanwhile, OpenAI said in June it hit $10 billion in annual recurring revenue, up from around $5.5 billion last year. That figure includes revenue from the company’s consumer products, ChatGPT business products, and its API. And while its CEO Sam Altman has painted a rosy picture of its future prospects in terms of subscribers, products, and revenue, the company is burning through billions of dollars in cash each year.
Power is another question, or more specifically where the companies plan to source the energy needed to run this level of compute.
Industry observers have been predicting a near-term boost for natural gas, though solar and batteries are arguably better positioned to deliver power sooner and at lower cost in many markets. Tech companies are also betting big on nuclear.
Despite market moving headlines, the energy impact of OpenAI’s anticipated growth isn’t entirely unexpected. Data centers are anticipated to consume 14% of all electricity in the U.S. by 2040, according to a report the Rhodium Group published yesterday.
Compute has always been a constraint for AI companies, so much so that investors have bought thousands of Nvidia chips to ensure their startups have access to the power they need. Andreessen Horowitz has reportedly purchased over 20,000 GPUs, while Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross rented access to a 4,000 GPU cluster (though maybe Meta owns that now).
But compute is worthless without power. To ensure their data centers remain juiced, large tech companies have been snapping up solar farms, buying nuclear power plants, and inking deals with geothermal startups.
So far, OpenAI has been relatively quiet on that front. CEO Sam Altman has placed several prominent bets in the energy sector, including Oklo, Helion, and Exowatt, but the company itself hasn’t thrown money into the space like Google, Meta, or Amazon.
With a 4.5 gigawatt compute deal, that may soon change.
The company may play an indirect role, paying Oracle to handle the physical infrastructure — something it has extensive experience with — just as Altman invested in startups aligned with OpenAI’s future power needs. That will leave the company “asset light,” something that will undoubtedly please its investors and help keep its valuation in line with other software-centric AI startups and not with legacy tech firms, which are burdened with pricey infrastructure.