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TL;DR
The Information and Bloomberg reported that OpenAI plans to buy Google’s AI chips, known as TPUs, but neither company has confirmed a deal, and its terms are unknown. OpenAI is already pursuing several non-Nvidia chip arrangements, while Google has begun selling TPUs beyond its own data centers. The reported plan could add another supplier and bargaining option, but it does not establish that OpenAI is leaving Nvidia or that ChatGPT will change.
The Information and Bloomberg reported on October 27 and 28 that OpenAI plans to buy Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), potentially adding another source of computing power for its AI systems. The companies have not confirmed a purchase: OpenAI declined to comment, Google did not comment, and the reports provide no public price, chip quantity or delivery date.
The reports each cited one person familiar with the matter, according to the source material. Reuters, relaying The Information’s report, said financial terms and other details could not be learned. Bloomberg also reported that final terms were not known. The account should therefore be treated as a report of a plan, not evidence that an agreement has been signed or chips delivered.
There is evidence that OpenAI is preparing to work with the technology. A TPU compiler engineering job posted on OpenAI’s careers page on October 20 asks for experience optimizing machine-learning workloads on TPUs. The posting describes work on OpenAI’s models but does not confirm a purchase. OpenAI had also begun testing some Google TPUs by June 2025, Reuters reported at the time; OpenAI then said it was in early testing and had no active plans for large-scale deployment.
Google’s move to sell TPUs outside its own data centers is confirmed in the supplied material. On its October 28 earnings call, Google said nearly 100 customers use TPUs and named Anthropic and Apple. Oracle announced that it plans to offer Google TPUs through its cloud from 2027. Google has also said it began delivering TPU systems to selected customers’ own data centers this year. These developments make a potential OpenAI purchase more practical, but they do not establish where OpenAI’s chips would run.
Infographic 01 · Reported, documented, confirmed
OpenAI and Google’s TPUs: what we actually know
The purchase itself is a report. The pieces around it, Google selling its chips and OpenAI hiring for them, are on the record.
- OpenAI plans to buy Google’s AI chipsReported
The Information, 27 October; Bloomberg, 28 October. Each cites one person familiar with the matter. OpenAI declined to comment; Google did not comment.
- OpenAI is hiring to optimize its frontier models on TPUsPrimary document
“Software Engineer, TPU Compilers”, posted on OpenAI’s careers page on 20 October 2026. A sign of serious work, not a purchase order.
- Google sells TPU systems into customers’ own data centersConfirmed
Announced on 29 April, first deliveries in the second quarter, “a meaningful revenue ramp in 2027” (Alphabet’s CFO, 28 October).
- Oracle will offer Google TPUs in its cloudConfirmed
The first cloud outside Google to do so. Available in calendar year 2027, ramping over several years.
- Price, number of chips, TPU generation, delivery dates, locationNot known
Nothing published. Not even whether the chips would sit in Google’s data centers, OpenAI’s or a partner’s.
How OpenAI and Google got here
- Jun 2025OpenAI rents Google TPUs, calls it early testingReuters: no active plans to deploy them at scale
- 29 Apr 2026Google: TPUs for customers’ own data centersAlphabet Q1 earnings call
- 20 Oct 2026OpenAI posts a TPU compiler jobOpenAI careers page
- 21 Oct 2026OpenAI models coming to Google CloudOpenAI announcement, as reported by Reuters
- 27 Oct 2026The Information reports the purchase plan; Oracle announces TPUsReported · Oracle press release
- 28 Oct 2026Bloomberg reports it too; Alphabet’s call does not mention OpenAIReported · Alphabet Q3 call
“Reported” means the outlets’ own reporting, which I could read only in part (paywalls). “Confirmed” means the company’s own statement or filing.
Sources: The Information via Reuters, 27 Oct 2026, Bloomberg, 28 Oct 2026, as cited by The Asia Business Daily, OpenAI careers, posted 20 Oct 2026, Reuters, 30 Jun 2025, Alphabet Q1 call, 29 Apr 2026, Q3 call, 28 Oct 2026, Oracle, 27 Oct 2026.
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A New Option in OpenAI’s Chip Mix
If the reported plan becomes a deal, it could give OpenAI another way to secure computing capacity as demand for AI models grows. More suppliers may give a large buyer additional negotiating leverage on price, delivery schedules and access to scarce chips. That is a potential consequence, not a confirmed result: the reports disclose no commercial terms, and there is no evidence yet of a change to OpenAI’s costs or compute supply.
The development would also test Google’s effort to make TPUs a business beyond its own cloud and data centers. Selling to OpenAI would place Google’s chip technology in the hands of a major AI company that competes with Google in products such as chatbots and search. At the same time, the companies already have business ties: OpenAI said on October 21 it would make its frontier models available through Google Cloud. The reported chip plan would add to that relationship, rather than mark its beginning.
For people using ChatGPT, there is no announced change. No source in the material says that the reported plan has affected product performance, availability or prices. The cited chip arrangements largely involve future capacity, and Oracle’s TPU cloud service is scheduled to start in 2027. Any eventual effect on ChatGPT would depend on whether OpenAI buys and deploys the chips, the scale of that deployment, and how the company uses the added capacity.
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Google Opens TPU Sales Beyond Cloud
Google designed TPUs for use in its own data centers and made them available to cloud customers. In April 2026, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google would begin delivering TPUs in a hardware configuration to selected customers’ own data centers. Google’s October earnings call described wider use and named new partnerships, while Oracle said it would rent out the chips from 2027. Together, those steps show Google is trying to serve customers outside its own facilities.
The OpenAI report is not its first contact with TPUs. Reuters reported in June 2025 that OpenAI had started renting them through Google Cloud. OpenAI characterized that work as early testing and said then it had no active plan to deploy TPUs at scale. The October 2026 compiler job posting is a more recent sign of technical preparation, but job listings alone cannot establish the scale or commercial status of any deployment.
OpenAI has also announced plans involving several other chip providers, so the reported Google arrangement would not be its first move beyond Nvidia. The source material lists agreements or announced arrangements with AMD, Broadcom, Cerebras and Amazon, alongside a 2025 letter of intent involving Nvidia. It gives capacity figures for these arrangements, but those figures do not show that the chips have been delivered or are operating. They also cannot be treated as directly comparable without details about each deal’s terms and timing.
“As TPU demand grows from AI labs, capital markets firms, and high performance computing applications, we will begin to deliver TPUs to a select group of customers in their own data centers in a hardware configuration.”
— Sundar Pichai, Google chief executive, on the company’s April 2026 earnings call
Deal Terms and Deployment Remain Unknown
Neither OpenAI nor Google has confirmed a purchase. The available reports do not identify how many chips OpenAI might buy, their generation, the price, delivery timing or where they would operate. It is also unclear whether the reports describe a signed agreement, active negotiations or a plan that could change.
The technical and commercial significance is also not yet measurable. There is no public detail about which OpenAI workloads might run on TPUs, how much capacity they would provide, or how their performance and costs compare with OpenAI’s other options. Google’s customer and partnership announcements confirm growing TPU availability, but they do not confirm an OpenAI order. The broader effects on Nvidia’s business, AI service prices or ChatGPT are therefore uncertain.
Watch for Terms and Delivery Dates
The next concrete signs would be a statement from OpenAI or Google, a disclosed agreement, or evidence of TPU deployment through Google Cloud, Oracle or an OpenAI facility. Details on quantity, price, chip generation and delivery schedule would show whether the reported plan is a limited test or a substantial supply arrangement. Oracle’s planned TPU offering from 2027 is a separate scheduled development, not confirmation of OpenAI’s plans.
Until such information appears, the status remains a reported intention rather than a confirmed purchase. Readers should also distinguish later announcements of capacity or partnerships from chips actually delivered and put into service. Nothing in the supplied reporting indicates an immediate change for ChatGPT users.
Key Questions
Has OpenAI confirmed that it will buy Google TPUs?
No. The Information and Bloomberg reported the plan, citing people familiar with the matter, but OpenAI declined to comment and Google did not comment. The supplied material does not confirm a signed purchase.
What are Google TPUs?
TPUs, or tensor processing units, are AI chips designed by Google. Google has used them in its own data centers and now says it is making some TPU systems available to outside customers.
Does this mean OpenAI is abandoning Nvidia?
No. The report does not say OpenAI is ending its Nvidia relationship. OpenAI has announced arrangements involving several chip providers, and the reported Google plan would potentially add another option rather than confirm a replacement.
Will the reported plan change ChatGPT for users?
No immediate user change has been announced. The reporting provides no evidence of changes to ChatGPT’s price, speed or availability. Those effects, if any, would depend on a confirmed deal and how OpenAI uses the chips.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
