Oracle Stock Is Rising. Why It’s So Much More Than a Bet on OpenAI.

OpenAI and Oracle build data centers together as part of their Stargate partnership. (Courtesy Oracle)

Key Points

• Oracle shares rose 5.9% ahead of Friday’s opening bell following the release of its fiscal first-quarter earnings.
• Oracle added $30 billion in artificial-intelligence bookings over the period from a number of new partners.
• The company will not have to raise extra funds to pay for the new deals.

There are worse things to be than OpenAI’s main cloud-computing supplier, in a world where the artificial-intelligence investing boom doesn’t look likely to slow down anytime soon.

But earnings from Oracle late Thursday underlined why the market ought to see the software giant as more than just a proxy for the ChatGPT developer.

For months, investors have treated Oracle shares as a way to play OpenAI’s looming listing. The two companies build data centers together as part of the $500 billion Stargate AI initiative.

But the partnership has been more of a curse than a blessing for Oracle lately. The stock was down 22% for 2026 through Thursday’s close, dragged lower by worries about the rapid rise of OpenAI’s main competitor Anthropic.

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1OracleSource: FactSet

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The fiscal first-quarter results won’t ease those fears, but they should serve as a reminder that OpenAI is just one piece of the puzzle.

Oracle added another $30 billion in AI bookings over the period That came from a number of new partners—and the company won’t have to raise extra funds to pay for the deals.

“Being less dependent on a small number of AI giants was an important positive takeaway,” KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader said.

Shares rose 5.9% ahead of Friday’s opening bell, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.6%. Oracle stock slumped 5.4% on Thursday. They could carry on rallying in the run-up to Oracle’s AI World event in Las Vegas in late October, where management is expected to update its long-term targets.

It’ll always be tempting to see Oracle as tethered to OpenAI—but these results should send a clear signal to Wall Street that the software company can do fine all by itself.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

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