OpenAI deal faces ‘no delays,’ Oracle confirms after stock slide

Oracle stock saw a significant decline, following an unnamed report suggesting that the company’s completion of new data centres for major customer OpenAI would be pushed back from 2027 to 2028 due to labour and material shortages. 

However, the tech giant has swiftly and firmly denied any such setbacks. In a statement, an Oracle spokesperson confirmed that the "site selection and delivery timelines were established in close coordination with OpenAI" following the execution of their agreement. 

The spokesperson emphasised, "There have been no delays to any sites required to meet our contractual commitments, and all milestones remain on track," without publicly specifying the precise timeline for turning on the cloud computing infrastructure.

This partnership is crucial for the forty-eight-year-old company, which has historically focused on database software. 

Oracle's cloud infrastructure business now accounts for over a quarter of its revenue, though it still trails hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. 

The deal with OpenAI, announced in September, is valued at over $300 billion across five years.

OpenAI is simultaneously securing capacity from other providers to meet its burgeoning needs. 

In September, the AI startup signed a letter of intent with Nvidia to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia equipment, with the initial phase of that large-scale project anticipated in the second half of 2026.