The Infrastructure Play: OpenAI’s AMD Deal

OpenAI has made two huge moves in the space of a few days.

The first is a multibillion-dollar chip deal with AMD that involves enough energy to power a small country. The second is the launch of ChatGPT Apps, a platform that lets developers build directly inside ChatGPT, turning it into something more like a universal operating system than a chatbot.

Individually, each story is significant. Together, they reveal something bigger. OpenAI is not just building smarter models. It is building both the infrastructure and the application layer of the next era of computing. It is securing the pipes, and it is building the platform on top of those pipes.

For small and mid-sized businesses, that matters. These moves will shape not only how you use AI, but who controls the tools, how much they cost, and what rules you have to follow to participate.

The Infrastructure Play: OpenAI’s AMD Deal

OpenAI’s partnership with AMD is not just another procurement contract.

The deal involves buying processors that together will consume six gigawatts of power. To put that into perspective, that is roughly the electricity required to run a small country. Alongside the chip deal, AMD has granted OpenAI warrants to buy up to 160 million shares. This ties OpenAI and AMD together strategically and financially.

Chips are the lifeblood of modern AI. The entire ecosystem depends on access to powerful, efficient compute. By locking in its own supply, OpenAI is securing its future growth and reducing dependence on rivals like NVIDIA. It is also taking a huge step toward controlling the infrastructure layer that everyone else depends on.

When a single company controls both the models and the compute, it decides who gets access, how much it costs, and how fast others can grow. That kind of vertical integration affects every player in the market.

For small and mid-sized businesses, this is not some distant market shift. If the infrastructure becomes more centralised, then the pricing, reliability, and rules of the tools you rely on can change almost overnight. One vendor’s strategy could ripple through hundreds of platforms downstream, altering what you pay and how you operate without you ever touching a chip yourself.

The Platform Play: ChatGPT Apps

Just as the chip story started to settle, OpenAI announced another major development.

Developers can now build apps inside ChatGPT using a new SDK. Early partners include Canva, Zillow, Spotify and Booking.com. Users will soon be able to design, book, browse or buy without ever leaving the chat.

This is not a minor update. It is the beginning of OpenAI turning ChatGPT into something like an operating system for the web. Instead of switching between browser tabs, apps and websites, users will simply interact with ChatGPT, which becomes the single interface to everything.

A directory will soon follow. Just like iOS or Android, there will be a place to discover apps, and just like those platforms, OpenAI will control who gets listed, what is promoted and how monetisation works.

For businesses, this is both exciting and risky. It opens up opportunities to reach users in a new way, but it also concentrates power in the hands of one platform. If your app or service lives inside ChatGPT, you are subject to its algorithms, its terms, and its priorities.

When One Company Owns the Pipes and the Platform

When you combine these two moves, the bigger picture comes into focus.

OpenAI is building the backbone of the next computing wave through the AMD deal. At the same time, it is building the front door through ChatGPT Apps. This is vertical integration that feels reminiscent of the platform wars of the past, except the stakes are far higher.

In earlier eras, companies like Microsoft and Apple fought to control both hardware and software ecosystems. The winners shaped entire industries for decades. What OpenAI is doing today looks similar, but on a global scale, with massive energy requirements and platforms that could reshape how we interact with the internet entirely.

This is not simply innovation. It is consolidation. And that has consequences.

Why This Matters for SMBs

If you run a small or mid-sized business, it is easy to see this as a faraway story about tech giants. It isn’t. The decisions made at this level will shape the environment you operate in whether you like it or not.

The cost of AI tools could start moving according to infrastructure deals made behind closed doors. Access to customers might increasingly depend on whether you are inside a single app ecosystem controlled by one company. The way your customers behave will change too. As more people start using ChatGPT as their primary interface for everyday tasks, the idea of browsing individual websites could begin to fade. Your marketing, sales and product strategies will need to evolve with that shift.

Lock-in risks will also grow. When your entire workflow sits inside one ecosystem, you are effectively subject to that ecosystem’s incentives. It might feel convenient at first. But when policies or pricing change, that convenience can turn into dependence overnight.

The companies that thrive in this environment will be the ones that pay attention early, stay flexible and treat their data and strategy as assets rather than afterthoughts.

A Controversial Question

Here’s the uncomfortable part.

If one company controls the chips, the power, the models, and the platform where users interact, is that good for innovation? Some will say it is simply smart strategy. Others will call it a power grab. History suggests that consolidation can bring short-term gains but often slows competition and innovation in the long run.

Either way, this is the reality businesses are stepping into. Ignoring it would be a mistake.

How to Respond Strategically

The smartest thing small and mid-sized businesses can do right now is stay aware, stay flexible, and avoid putting all their eggs in one basket. Understand where your tools come from, how dependent you are on a single provider, and where you have room to diversify. Experiment with ChatGPT Apps early so you learn how to play in that ecosystem before it becomes crowded.

Your own data will be one of your most valuable assets in this environment. Unlike infrastructure or app ecosystems, your customer insights and operational data are yours to control. Treat them as strategic capital, not an afterthought.

And perhaps most importantly, keep a critical eye. Convenience and power are not the same thing.

Conclusion

The OpenAI–AMD chip deal and the ChatGPT Apps launch are not isolated stories. They are two sides of the same strategy.

OpenAI is building the pipes and the platform. It is consolidating its power at both ends of the AI stack. For small and mid-sized businesses, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Those who understand this landscape early will make smarter decisions about where to build, how to diversify and when to lean in.

The future of AI is not just about clever models. It is about control, infrastructure, ecosystems and power.

At Intellisite.co, we help businesses adopt AI with a clear strategy, not blind faith.