Like others said, it’s a letter of intent.

It’s basically a standing, non-binding contract. It’s often used for raising money and getting funding to start building out production.

Basically, if both companies honor it, it means OpenAI would get the first chips.

Not honoring these types of things can often fall back negatively on both parties.

Kind of like when people go into a shop, or call them, and ask them to put aside an item.