By Simply Wall St
Publication Date: 2026-02-01 14:23:00
- Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) has signed a multi year, US$750 million partnership with AI startup Perplexity.
- Perplexity will use Microsoft Azure’s Foundry service to run models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI on Azure infrastructure.
- The agreement highlights Azure’s positioning as a multi model AI hosting platform rather than a channel for a single model provider.
For you as an investor looking at Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT), this deal sits at the intersection of cloud and generative AI, two areas that are central to the company’s long term strategy. Azure is providing computing power and also positioning itself as a neutral venue where different model providers can be accessed in one place. That can matter for customers that want flexibility across OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and potentially others without committing to a single stack.
The Perplexity agreement also highlights key questions investors are asking about AI spending at Microsoft, including capital intensity, customer concentration and the timing of potential returns. As Azure signs more multi model workloads, the mix of customers and use cases using its AI infrastructure could become an important factor to watch, alongside headline figures on overall cloud demand.
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