Why Snowflake Has Partnered with OpenAI in a US$200m AI Deal

Snowflake has entered into a new multi-year, US$200m partnership with OpenAI which integrates OpenAI’s most advanced models – including GPT‑5.2 – directly into Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud.

The deal is designed to put trustworthy, enterprise-grade AI directly where corporate data already lives, rather than forcing teams to move or copy sensitive datasets into standalone AI environments. 

Global organisations such as Canva and WHOOP are expected to use the integration to power context-aware AI agents and analytics tools across their businesses.

Bringing OpenAI to the AI data cloud

As part of the agreement, OpenAI’s models will be natively available within Snowflake Cortex AI across all three major clouds, making them accessible to Snowflake’s 12,600 global customers. 

OpenAI models, including GPT‑5.2, will also be available inside Snowflake Intelligence, the company’s enterprise intelligence agent that allows employees to securely query and act on organisational knowledge using natural language.

By uniting data, governance and model intelligence inside a single environment, Snowflake and OpenAI aim to simplify how enterprises bring AI into business‑critical workflows – from BI and operations to customer-facing applications – without stitching together fragmented tools.

“By bringing OpenAI models to enterprise data, Snowflake enables organisations to build and deploy AI on top of their most valuable asset using the secure, governed platform they already trust,” says Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake.

“Customers can now harness all their enterprise knowledge in Snowflake together with the world-class intelligence of OpenAI models, enabling them to build AI agents that are powerful, responsible and trustworthy.

“Together, we’re setting a new standard for AI innovation, helping businesses transform with confidence while maintaining strong security and compliance standards.”

Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, adds: “Snowflake is a trusted platform that sits at the centre of how enterprises manage and activate their most critical data.

“This partnership brings our advanced models directly into that environment, making it easier to deploy AI agents and apps so businesses can close the gap between what AI is capable of and the value they can create today.”

Case studies: Canva and WHOOP

Early customer stories give a sense of what the benefits of this partnership will be – and how it will impact customers.

“As we scale our visual AI offering on Canva, both OpenAI and Snowflake have played key roles in how we rapidly empower our users with new creative tools,” says Helen Crossley, Head of Data Science at Canva.

“As our platform continues to scale, Snowflake has been foundational to how we manage and activate data and we’re excited to explore how leveraging OpenAI models in Snowflake Cortex AI can help us extend that foundation. 

“The ability to bridge advanced AI models with our enterprise data allows us to move quickly and test new ideas, without compromising on security or performance.”

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For American wearable technology company WHOOP, the focus is on agility and accuracy.

“Speed and precision in decision-making are critical for us as WHOOP continues to scale,” says Matt Luizzi, Senior Director of Business Analytics at WHOOP. 

“Rolling out Snowflake Intelligence to our employees and developing Cortex Agents has provided a secure and governed way for WHOOP to analyse data and make decisions. 

“With OpenAI’s models available directly within Snowflake Cortex AI, we can further enhance those agents with advanced reasoning and analysis, all while maintaining strong security and governance.”

Deepening a two‑way enterprise relationship

This partnership is not the first between Snowflake and OpenAI.The latest collaboration expands on an existing two‑way relationship.

OpenAI already uses Snowflake as a secure, scalable data platform for experiment tracking, analytics and testing, making the data cloud part of its internal R&D backbone. 

In turn, Snowflake relies on ChatGPT Enterprise to empower employees with AI in their day‑to‑day work, accelerating decision‑making and collaboration.

Thai shift epitomises how AI is becoming less of a bolt‑on and more of a native capability at the data layer. 

By bringing models to the data – rather than moving data to the models – Snowflake and OpenAI are betting that the next wave of enterprise AI will be built inside governed, production‑grade data platforms.