By Mels Dees
Publication Date: 2026-01-30 09:30:00
Microsoft has signed a $750 million cloud contract with AI startup Perplexity. With this agreement, Perplexity has made a conscious decision to broaden its cloud strategy, alongside its long-term partnership with Amazon Web Services.
According to Bloomberg, the deal has a three-year term and centers on using Microsoft’s Azure platform and the Foundry service to roll out AI models.
Through Foundry, Perplexity will have access to a wide range of so-called frontier models, including technology from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. This will allow the company to develop and deploy its AI services more flexibly without being dependent on a single model supplier or cloud platform. According to Perplexity, this step aligns with its ambition to offer users more choice and technological depth.
AWS remains key cloud partner
However, the collaboration with Microsoft does not mean a departure from Amazon Web Services. Perplexity emphasizes that AWS will remain its most important cloud partner for the time being and that the existing infrastructure there will continue unchanged. The company even expects to further expand its collaboration with Amazon. In practice, Perplexity is opting for a multicloud strategy, something that is becoming increasingly common among fast-growing AI companies.
This strategy is striking against the backdrop of the legal tensions between Perplexity and Amazon. In November, Amazon filed a lawsuit to prevent Perplexity from…
