Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in federal court during the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial, stating that Elon Musk never directly raised concerns with him regarding Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI or alleged violations of the company’s nonprofit commitments.
Nadella appeared in court in Oakland, California, where he answered questions about Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, the company’s investments, and the brief removal of Sam Altman as OpenAI CEO in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed by Elon Musk in 2024 against OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Microsoft, alleges that OpenAI moved away from its original nonprofit mission after receiving billions of dollars in commercial investments. Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, including a $10 billion investment in 2023.
During testimony, Nadella said Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI always had a clear commercial component and was never treated as a donation. He added that Microsoft initially supported OpenAI by providing discounted computing resources while expecting long-term strategic and business benefits.
Nadella stated he was “very proud” that Microsoft invested in OpenAI when “no one else was willing” to support the company in its early stages.
Musk previously testified that Microsoft’s large-scale investment was the turning point that convinced him OpenAI was drifting away from its nonprofit structure. “I was concerned they were really trying to steal the charity,” Musk said during earlier proceedings.
The court also reviewed Microsoft’s growing financial relationship with OpenAI. According to testimony from Microsoft executive Michael Wetter, the partnership had generated nearly $9.5 billion in revenue for Microsoft as of March 2025.
Nadella also spoke about the sudden removal of Sam Altman as OpenAI CEO in November 2023, describing the situation as “pretty surprised” and later calling the handling of the matter “sort of amateur city.” He said Microsoft sought clarity from OpenAI’s board after Altman was removed over concerns that he had not been “not consistently candid in his communications.”
The testimony also highlighted growing competition in AI between Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and Elon Musk’s AI company xAI. Nadella acknowledged that Google has long been Microsoft’s primary competitor in artificial intelligence.
The trial continues with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expected to testify next, while former OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and board chairman Bret Taylor also appeared before the court.
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