Larry Ellison, then-CEO of Oracle Corp., introduces Oracle's then-new database product iFS, (Internet File System), at a news conference on May 16, 2000. Reuters/File New York —

In the late 1970s, a startup founded by Larry Ellison and two fellow computer programmers got a big break in the form of a CIA contract to build a database program code-named Oracle, which later became the name of the company.

Now, nearly 50 years after its founding, the database and enterprise software giant has gotten another big break. It has become a key player in the artificial intelligence boom, with its cloud computing business helping to meet crushing demand for computing power for AI applications. One of its most prominent partnerships is with industry leader OpenAI, which reportedly agreed earl

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