Stripe announced the completion of its acquisition of the AI model routing platform OpenRouter. Although the transaction amount was not disclosed, according to reports from The New York Times citing sources, Stripe paid approximately $7.5 billion for the deal, far exceeding OpenRouter's valuation of $1.3 billion in May.

According to the report, the founders of OpenRouter are expected to receive about $1.5 billion in proceeds, while investors will get around $6 billion in returns. Stripe beat several potential competitors, including Databricks, to complete the deal. After the acquisition, OpenRouter is expected to continue operating independently, with no changes to its products, mission, or existing service commitments.

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OpenRouter was established during a period of rapid growth in AI model applications, primarily helping developers call and manage different large models, reducing model usage costs and complexity. Stripe stated that OpenRouter has strong complementary value with its developer ecosystem, and this technology will not only be used for internal AI applications but also help drive the development of AI agent products independent of specific models.

Stripe's founders, Patrick Collison and John Collison, stated in a letter to investors that artificial intelligence is driving the formation of a new economic model and referred to this phase as the beginning of the "singularity." Stripe noted that as the number of AI companies grows and AI applications become more widespread, more companies are starting to use its payment and financial infrastructure. Currently, approximately 88% of the Forbes AI 50 companies use Stripe products, including companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Industry experts believe that this acquisition indicates that Stripe is further expanding from its traditional payment business into the fields of AI cost management and infrastructure. Previous major acquisitions by Stripe were mainly focused on payments and fund management, while OpenRouter will help it enter new markets such as AI model call fees and token cost management.

As the demand for AI model calls grows rapidly, AI gateways and cost management are becoming new areas of competition. Companies such as Databricks, Rippling, and Ramp are also developing related products. Through the acquisition of OpenRouter, Stripe is expected to gain a deeper understanding of developers' AI usage behaviors and enhance its influence in the AI supply chain, model service providers, and cloud computing ecosystem.