Oracle (ORCL -1.98%) stock was up by 6% at midday today. The stock's move underlined the importance of the fortunes of its key partner, AI technology company OpenAI. The stock's rise is due to positive news flow around OpenAI. Here's the lowdown.
As a reminder, Oracle signed a $300 billion deal to provide computing power for OpenAI last September. It was a transformative deal that elevated Oracle to a leading hyperscaler. However, it also raised concerns that Oracle had overstretched itself by building out increasingly expensive AI infrastructure for a customer that many believed would struggle to deliver on its growth aspirations and could face funding difficulties.
Those fears led to bond market concerns about Oracle's debt, as evidenced by higher credit default swap (CDS) spreads (the cost to insure against default on its debt).
Consequently, developments at OpenAI will move Oracle's stock, and the market was left unimpressed by the recent news that OpenAI would push back its initial public offering (IPO) from 2026 to at least 2027.
That said, according to reports , OpenAI has very recently been in talks to raise capital that would value the company at $1.2 trillion. If the speculation is credible, then it will be excellent news for Oracle and help de-risk its AI infrastructure build-out plans.
Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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