OpenAI has reportedly improved its internal 'compute margin' to roughly 70% for paid products, up from about 52% at the end of 2024, according to The Information. The company is focusing sales on business accounts and paid features for sectors including education, while seeking partnerships with cloud providers to lower GPU costs and scale infrastructure. OpenAI’s margin gains matter to universities budgeting AI expenditures and negotiating campus licenses. Higher‑education purchasing officers should watch pricing shifts closely: improved margins could translate into more aggressive pricing for institutional subscriptions, bundled offerings, or hardware partnerships with cloud providers. Campus legal teams should also monitor emerging contracts for vendor lock‑in risks, data‑use clauses, and research‑access provisions as AI vendors chase institutional customers.