Oracle
ORCL · NYSETwo years ago Oracle was a database company nobody associated with AI. Today, more than half its entire contract backlog is tied to a single customer: OpenAI.
Who they are
Oracle, founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates, spent decades as an enterprise database company before pivoting hard into AI cloud infrastructure. Ellison remains Chairman and CTO; in September 2025, longtime CEO Safra Catz moved to Executive Vice Chairman, and Oracle named two co-CEOs, Clay Magouyrk, previously president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Mike Sicilia, previously president of Oracle Industries, to run the company.
What they do
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) rents out GPU-dense compute to AI companies that need capacity faster than they can build it themselves. Its largest and most consequential deal is a $300 billion, five-year cloud contract with OpenAI signed in September 2025, covering roughly 4.5 gigawatts of compute capacity per year as part of the broader "Stargate" data center buildout. The flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas is already live on OCI and has begun receiving Nvidia GB200 racks; OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank have since announced five additional Stargate sites.
How Oracle makes money
Oracle's Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO), its contracted but not-yet-recognized backlog, reached $553 billion, up 325% year over year, as of its most recent quarter. Third-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue hit $17.2 billion, up 22% year over year, with OCI growing 84%. Oracle raised its full-year capital-expenditure forecast to roughly $50 billion, funded partly by a decision not to issue additional bonds in 2026, relying instead on pre-funded AI contracts and customer-supplied equipment.
The bigger trend
The OpenAI relationship is both Oracle's biggest asset and its biggest risk: roughly $300 billion, or about 54% of Oracle's entire RPO backlog, is tied to that one contract. Moody's has flagged the concentration explicitly, noting that while the contract size highlights Oracle's AI infrastructure potential, it also depends on OpenAI successfully raising the funds to pay for the capacity it has already committed to.
Whether OpenAI's own funding keeps pace with what it owes Oracle under Stargate; how much of the $553 billion RPO backlog actually converts into recognized cloud revenue as new sites come online; whether Oracle's decision to avoid new bond issuance in 2026 holds if capex needs keep climbing.
Related companies
Frequently asked questions
Oracle's Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO), contracted revenue not yet recognized, reached $553 billion, reflecting multi-year AI cloud commitments like the OpenAI Stargate deal. Whether that backlog actually converts into cash revenue as data centers come online is the central question for the stock.
OpenAI's Stargate contract accounts for roughly $300 billion, about 54% of Oracle's total RPO backlog, making it by far Oracle's largest single customer concentration risk.
Oracle is run by co-CEOs Clay Magouyrk, who oversees cloud infrastructure, and Mike Sicilia, who oversees industry applications and AI products. Founder Larry Ellison remains Chairman and CTO, and Catz moved to the board as Executive Vice Chairman in September 2025.
This page describes public value-chain positioning for informational purposes only. It is not investment advice, and inclusion here is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Figures reflect public reporting as of mid-2026 and may have changed since.