OpenAI launches $10B deployment arm to embed engineers

OpenAI announced the OpenAI Deployment Company, a majority-owned subsidiary with a $10 billion valuation and over $4 billion in committed capital. The unit is designed to place specialized engineers inside enterprise clients to build and run complex AI systems.

OpenAI has agreed to acquire Tomoro, a U.K.-based applied AI consulting firm, to staff the new entity from day one. The deal would bring roughly 150 forward-deployed engineers and deployment specialists to the Deployment Company once it clears regulatory review and closes in the coming months.

The new arm is backed by 19 investors, including TPG, Goldman Sachs, SoftBank, Capgemini and McKinsey & Company. Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap will oversee the venture, and Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser will lead commercial operations.

Engineers assigned to clients will work onsite or inside client environments to integrate AI with legacy systems, manage compliance and permissions, and redesign workflows so tools survive pilot phases and continue to operate in production.

The approach follows the forward-deployed engineer model used by Palantir, where technical teams work inside customer operations rather than delivering software and leaving. Days earlier, Anthropic announced a $1.5 billion enterprise venture backed by Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and Hellman & Friedman with a similar plan to embed engineering teams in companies.

OpenAI’s enterprise business accounts for more than 40% of its revenue. The company reported $25 billion in annualized revenue in February and said enterprise revenue is on track to reach parity with consumer revenue by the end of 2026. OpenAI projects total revenue could reach $85 billion by 2030 if AI agents become a common operating layer for businesses.

OpenAI’s share of the API market has narrowed as competitors expanded offerings; reports indicate the share fell from about 50% in 2023 to roughly 25% by mid-2025. The Deployment Company is intended to create an implementation advantage that ties customers to OpenAI through services and operational integration rather than model access alone.

Consulting and services represent a large market: for every dollar companies spend on software, they typically spend about six dollars on services. OpenAI’s investment partners have ties to more than 2,000 businesses globally, which the company says provides distribution channels that could reach enterprise buyers outside standard CIO procurement cycles.

Tomoro’s client list includes Tesco, Virgin Atlantic and Supercell. Tomoro engineers built an in-game support agent that scaled to 110 million users in 12 weeks. OpenAI says the acquisition will supply experienced deployment teams from day one and support enterprise rollouts of its frontier models. The agreement remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the coming months.