Snowflake ties up with OpenAI in $200m deal

Snowflake and OpenAI enter into a multi-year, $200 million partnership to integrate OpenAI models like GPT-5.2 into the data cloud giant’s intelligence.

The partnership agreement will make the models natively available into Snowflake Cortex AI serving its 12,600 global customers. It is to help enterprises deploy agentic AI across their businesses and to allow customers to use them directly on data stored within Snowflake without transferring it to external systems.

Snowflake chief executive Sridhar Ramaswamy said the integration is focused on practical business deployment rather than experimentation. “We are bringing the power of advanced AI models directly to where enterprise data already lives, so customers can use them in a governed and secure way,” Ramaswamy said.

The agreement expands an existing relationship between the two companies and includes joint product development and coordinated commercial efforts. 

OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap said the partnership is intended to make its models easier to use inside large organisations. “Enterprises want to apply AI to their own data, and this partnership is about making that possible within the systems they already rely on,” Lightcap said.

Snowflake said the models will be available to customers running its platform on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. The company said this will allow firms to deploy AI tools across different cloud environments while keeping data controls within Snowflake’s platform.

Snowflake 🤝 @OpenAI

We’re launching a $200M, multi-year partnership that brings co-innovation, joint go-to-market strategies, and OpenAI models natively into Snowflake Cortex AI -- to help enterprises easily deploy agentic AI across their businesses. With first-party… pic.twitter.com/rq8UaWgPCz

— Snowflake (@Snowflake) February 2, 2026

Some customers are already testing the technology. Design platform Canva and wearable device maker WHOOP were cited as early users exploring how the models could be applied to internal analytics and research. The companies did not disclose performance results or financial impact from these trials.

The deal comes as competition intensifies among data and analytics companies to position themselves as platforms for enterprise AI. Rivals such as Databricks and major cloud providers are also integrating large language models into their data services as companies look to move AI tools from pilot projects into regular business use.

For OpenAI, the partnership provides wider access to corporate customers. For Snowflake, it supports its strategy of expanding beyond data storage and analytics into AI-based applications.

The companies did not give a detailed timeline for when all features under the partnership will be available, saying development and rollout will take place over several years. The agreement reflects a broader trend in enterprise software toward closer integration between data platforms and AI model providers.