OpenAI is acquiring cloud infrastructure company Ona to enhance its Codex AI platform with secure, persistent execution environments. The acquisition reflects the growing need for AI agents that can work continuously across hours or days, rather than being limited to single sessions or devices.
The move comes as Codex usage has exploded, with more than 5 million people now using the platform weekly to research, analyze, build, and automate their work. That represents a 400% increase from earlier this year, according to OpenAI. What started as a tool for software developers has expanded to serve a wider range of users tackling complex work from initial request through to finished results.
Ona has built technology that provides secure, persistent cloud environments where AI agents can access necessary tools, systems, and context to make progress over extended periods. The company has helped 2 million developers work in secure, reproducible cloud environments and already supports several shared customers with OpenAI.
The acquisition addresses a critical challenge as organizations move from experimenting with AI agents to deploying them in production workflows. While capable AI models are essential, enterprises need much more to deploy agents confidently at scale. They require control over where agents run, what they can access, how credentials are scoped, how activity is logged, and how work moves through review processes.
Ona’s customer-controlled execution model will allow AI agents to operate inside an organization’s own cloud environment while OpenAI provides the intelligence and orchestration powering the experience. This approach gives organizations greater control over their infrastructure, data, and security boundaries without limiting what Codex can accomplish.
“Agents need more than intelligence; they need a trusted workspace,” said Johannes Landgraf, Co-Founder and CEO of Ona. “We built Ona to give agents cloud environments with the context, control and collaboration enterprises require. Joining OpenAI lets us bring that foundation into Codex, helping organizations deploy agents with confidence.”
The deal reflects broader trends in enterprise AI adoption, where security, governance, and operational requirements are becoming just as important as AI capabilities themselves. Organizations want powerful agents that can handle real work while meeting strict security and control requirements.
“Enterprises want powerful agents that can do real work while meeting the security and control requirements of their environments,” said Thibault Sottiaux, Core Products Lead at OpenAI. “Ona will help us make Codex easier to deploy securely across production workflows for customers operating at the highest standards of trust and scale.”
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. Until closing, both companies will remain separate and independent.
After the deal closes, Ona’s team will join OpenAI and work with the Codex team to advance secure, persistent enterprise execution capabilities. The combined effort aims to help engineering teams safely take on sustained work across the software lifecycle, from running tests and resolving issues to modernizing applications and addressing vulnerabilities.
The move positions OpenAI to better compete in the enterprise market, where companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are also building AI agent platforms with robust security and governance features. By acquiring proven cloud infrastructure technology rather than building it from scratch, OpenAI can accelerate its enterprise offerings while maintaining focus on AI model development.
