--- title: "Databricks, valued at $190 billion, routes OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex through Unity Gateway" description: "The November 13 playbook makes Databricks' Unity Gateway the place where OpenAI's models are permission-checked, logged and budgeted, weeks after a $190 billion funding round. The listed read-through is Snowflake, which is growing again, and an Anthropic IPO that prices on November 18." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Platforms" published: 2026-11-14T16:10:16.521Z modified: 2026-11-14T16:10:16.521Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/databricks-valued-at-190-billion-routes-openai-s-chatgpt-and-codex-through-unity-gateway language: en keywords: "Databricks, OpenAI, Snowflake, AI Agents, Enterprise Software" --- # Databricks, valued at $190 billion, routes OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex through Unity Gateway > The November 13 playbook makes Databricks' Unity Gateway the place where OpenAI's models are permission-checked, logged and budgeted, weeks after a $190 billion funding round. The listed read-through is Snowflake, which is growing again, and an Anthropic IPO that prices on November 18. ## The key that never leaves the building On November 13, 2026 [Databricks](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/databricks) [published an enterprise playbook with three routes for OpenAI tools on governed company data](https://www.unite.ai/databricks-details-three-enterprise-adoption-paths-for-openai-tools/) [1]. A ChatGPT user asks in plain language and Genie, Databricks' agent for business data, answers with the company's own metric definitions, permission-checked and sourced [1]. Codex, [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai)'s coding agent, sends every request through Unity Gateway, Databricks' control plane: the OpenAI API key stays inside the gateway, each call is logged, managers set team budgets and pick the model per task [1]. Custom agents run OpenAI models beside governed data with no external key at all [1]. [OpenAI's own customer page](https://openai.com/index/databricks/) points the same way, with GPT-5.5 reaching Databricks customers through that gateway [2]. ## A $190 billion toll booth The partnership dates to September 25, 2025, and was valued at $100 million [1]. When it was signed, OpenAI president Greg Brockman likened AI without company data to hiring 20 PhDs and never inviting them to a meeting [1]. Databricks says it crossed a $7 billion revenue run-rate in August, growing more than 80 percent, and closed funding at a $190 billion valuation, with 20,000 customers including 70 percent of the Fortune 500 [3]. Days before the playbook it committed about $3 billion to Europe and the Middle East over three years [4]. The payments company [Block](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/block) already chooses frontier or open-weight models per task through the same gateway [5]. The same week, [Commvault](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/commvault) said its Data Activate service will land backup-protected data in the lakehouse as governed tables in Unity Catalog, ownership and lineage intact, from December [6][7]. ## Two companies, one invoice OpenAI has a claim on the same money: gateway requests from ChatGPT Go, Plus, Pro and Enterprise bill against the ChatGPT subscription, not against Databricks [1]. OpenAI owns the employee's interface; Databricks holds the data, the permissions and the budget. Neither company discloses what the gateway itself earns, so the control-plane thesis rests on numbers Databricks has never published. ## The rival lakehouse is growing again [Snowflake](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/snowflake)'s name appears nowhere in the OpenAI routes or the Commvault announcement, yet it is not fading: last quarter it booked $1.49 billion of product revenue, up 37 percent, [raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to $6.07 billion](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ai-product-rollout-might-change-221407631.html), and sells its own meter, Cortex AI Gateway [8]. Its revenue growth has climbed for four straight quarters [9]. *Chart: **Snowflake's growth bottomed at 26% and has risen for four straight quarters** Column chart of Snowflake's year-over-year revenue growth in twelve fiscal quarters from the quarter ended October 2023 to the quarter ended July 2026: 31.8, 31.5, 32.9, 28.9, 28.3, 27.4, 25.7, 31.8, 28.7, 30.1, 33.5 and 35.1 percent, with a trough of 25.7 percent in the quarter ended April 2025 and four straight quarters of acceleration to 35.1 percent.* *Year-over-year change in Snowflake's quarterly revenue, in percent, for fiscal quarters ending October 2023 through July 2026, as reported in the company's SEC filings. Source: Snowflake filings. [9]* ## Anthropic prices on November 18, Commvault ships in December [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic) [prices its Nasdaq debut on November 18](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/10/anthropic-sets-price-range-of-70-to-78-in-upcoming-ipo.html) and trades the next day under ANT at $70 to $78 a share, a range that could value it near $1.4 trillion on an $81 billion October run-rate [10]. Commvault's Databricks link enters early access in December [7]. The gateway's SQL, sandbox and web-search tools remain in beta, unpriced [1]. The 20 PhDs finally got their meeting, and Databricks is charging admission at the door [1]. ## Takeaway Databricks has made Unity Gateway the toll booth for OpenAI's models on company data, but OpenAI keeps the subscription and Databricks has never said what the gateway earns. ## Sources 1. [Unite.AI, "Databricks Details Three Enterprise Adoption Paths for OpenAI Tools", 13 November 2026](https://www.unite.ai/databricks-details-three-enterprise-adoption-paths-for-openai-tools/) 2. [OpenAI, "Databricks brings GPT-5.5 to enterprise agent workflows", 15 May 2026](https://openai.com/index/databricks/) 3. [Databricks blog, "Databricks Doubles Down on AI Products, Opens New 235,000-Square-Foot San Francisco Headquarters", 12 November 2026](https://www.databricks.com/blog/databricks-doubles-down-ai-products-opens-new-235000-square-foot-san-francisco-headquarters) 4. [HPCwire/BigDATAwire, "Databricks Plans $3B Investment in Europe and the Middle East", 12 November 2026](https://www.hpcwire.com/bigdatawire/this-just-in/databricks-plans-3b-investment-in-europe-and-the-middle-east/) 5. [Databricks blog, "How Block powers collaborative AI agents with Buzz and Unity Gateway", 13 November 2026](https://www.databricks.com/blog/how-block-powers-collaborative-ai-agents-buzz-and-unity-gateway) 6. [Channel Insider, "Commvault Makes Series of Announcements at its Flagship Conference", 13 November 2026](https://www.channelinsider.com/security/commvault-shift-ai-recovery-security-partnerships/) 7. [SiliconANGLE, "Commvault unveils Recovery Studio, AgentRecover update and joint work with three partners", 10 November 2026](https://siliconangle.com/2026/11/10/commvault-unveils-recovery-studio-agentrecover-update-and-joint-work-with-three-partners/) 8. [Yahoo Finance (Simply Wall St), "AI Product Rollout Might Change The Case For Investing In Snowflake (SNOW)", 7 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ai-product-rollout-might-change-221407631.html) 9. [Snowflake, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 14 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001640147) 10. [CNBC, "Anthropic sets IPO price range of $70 to $78, looks to start trading Nov. 19, sources say", 10 November 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/10/anthropic-sets-price-range-of-70-to-78-in-upcoming-ipo.html) --- Databricks, valued at $190 billion, routes OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex through Unity Gateway — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/databricks-valued-at-190-billion-routes-openai-s-chatgpt-and-codex-through-unity-gateway