OpenAI will purchase up to 750 megawatts of computing power over three years from chipmaker Cerebras as the ChatGPT maker looks to pull ahead in the AI race and meet the growing demand, El.kz cites Reuters.

This deal is worth more than $10 billion over the life of the contract, according to a source familiar with the matter. The ChatGPT maker plans to use the systems built by Cerebras to power its popular chatbot in what is the latest in a string of multi-billion-dollar deals struck by OpenAI.

Cerebras Chief Executive Andrew Feldman said the two companies began talks last August after Cerebras demonstrated that OpenAI’s open-source models could run more efficiently on its chips than on traditional GPUs. After months of negotiations, the companies reached an agreement under which Cerebras will sell cloud services powered by its chips to OpenAI, focusing on inference and reasoning models, which typically take time to “think” before generating responses.

As part of the deal, Cerebras will build or lease data centers filled with its chips, while OpenAI will pay to use Cerebras’ cloud services to run inference for its AI products. The capacity will come online in multiple tranches through 2028.

“Integrating Cerebras into our mix of compute solutions is all about making our AI respond much faster,” OpenAI said in a post on its website.

The deal underscores the industry’s strong appetite for computing power to run inference — the process by which models respond to queries — as companies race to build reasoning models and applications to drive adoption.

The tie-up will be key to Cerebras’ latest efforts in going public, as it will help Cerebras diversify its revenue away from UAE-based tech firm G42, which has been both an investor and one of its largest customers.