Tags: Azure

Microsoft announced it will end most internal licenses for Anthropic's Claude Code by June 30, steering its Experiences + Devices engineers to the GitHub Copilot CLI. The shift, outlined in an internal memo from EVP Rajesh Jha, aims to unify the company’s command‑line coding tools and trim operating costs before the new fiscal year begins in July. While Claude Code has been popular among developers, Microsoft says the move will let it shape Copilot CLI directly with GitHub and continue accessing Anthropic models through the new tool. Weiterlesen

Emails between senior Microsoft leaders, presented in the Elon Musk versus Sam Altman lawsuit, show the tech giant hesitated to pour additional funding into OpenAI as early as 2017. Executives questioned the lab’s progress toward artificial general intelligence and worried a funding shortfall could drive the AI startup to rival Amazon. The correspondence predates Microsoft’s landmark $1 billion investment in 2019, highlighting a cautious start to what would become one of tech’s most celebrated partnerships. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced on Monday that its long‑standing deal with OpenAI has been rewritten to let the AI startup sell its models on any cloud provider, including Amazon Web Services. The amendment extends Microsoft’s revenue‑share rights through 2032, removes an artificial‑general‑intelligence clause, and keeps Azure as OpenAI’s primary partner while opening the door for rivals to host the latest models. The shift follows months of tension over exclusivity and revenue terms, and it reshapes the financial and strategic stakes for both companies. Weiterlesen

OpenAI announced that Microsoft will remain its primary cloud partner but will no longer hold exclusive rights to the AI firm’s services. The shift allows OpenAI to run workloads on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud while keeping Azure as the first choice when suitable. Microsoft retains model access through a license lasting until 2032 and will continue receiving a revenue share through 2030, though the exclusivity that once barred OpenAI from other providers has been lifted. Weiterlesen

Microsoft and OpenAI announced a renegotiated partnership that replaces the exclusive license Microsoft held on OpenAI's models with a non‑exclusive arrangement lasting until 2032. The deal clears a legal snag created by Amazon's up‑to‑$50 billion investment, which had granted AWS exclusive rights to certain OpenAI technologies. Azure remains OpenAI's primary cloud, but the maker can now run its products on any provider. The revised terms also reshape revenue‑share flows and preserve Microsoft’s sizable equity stake, while giving enterprises more cloud‑choice flexibility. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced Monday that its exclusive right to sell OpenAI’s artificial‑intelligence models on Azure will end. The tech giant will retain a non‑exclusive licence to OpenAI’s intellectual property through 2032, remain the primary cloud partner and hold onto its 27% equity stake. OpenAI will continue paying a capped revenue share to Microsoft through 2030, while Microsoft will no longer pay a share on products it resells. Shares of Microsoft fell about 3% after the news, while rivals Amazon and Alphabet logged modest gains. Weiterlesen

OpenAI announced a revision to its multiyear partnership with Microsoft that removes the tech giant's exclusive rights to the startup's latest AI models. The amendment lets OpenAI sell its services through any cloud platform while keeping Azure as the primary launch venue. Microsoft will retain a non‑exclusive license to the models through 2032 and continue receiving revenue‑share payments from OpenAI until 2030, though the share will now be capped. Both companies said the change adds flexibility and broadens AI access. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced major revisions to its long‑standing partnership with OpenAI, dropping the contract’s artificial general intelligence (AGI) clause and allowing OpenAI to sell its products on any cloud platform. While Azure remains the primary cloud for OpenAI services, the new terms cap revenue‑sharing payments through 2030 and make them subject to a total limit, ending independent of any AGI milestone. The changes also make Microsoft’s license to OpenAI’s models non‑exclusive through 2032, opening the door for competitors to join the mix as OpenAI eyes an IPO and a tighter focus on enterprise customers. Weiterlesen

Six months after renegotiating its contract with OpenAI, Microsoft unveiled MAI-Transcribe-1, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-Image-2 on its Foundry platform. The new models, built by a ten‑person team, boast lower error rates, faster speeds and competitive pricing, giving the tech giant a functional AI stack independent of its former partner. The rollout underscores Microsoft’s new freedom to pursue "humanist superintelligence" and could reshape enterprise AI spending. Weiterlesen

Microsoft AI, the research arm of the tech giant, announced the rollout of three foundational multimodal models—MAI-Transcribe-1, MAI-Voice-1, and MAI-Image-2. The transcription model supports 25 languages and is 2.5 times faster than Azure Fast. The voice model can generate a minute of audio in one second and allows custom voice creation. The image model, originally unveiled on MAI Playground, expands Microsoft’s AI portfolio and is priced to be cheaper than competing offerings from Google and OpenAI. The launch underscores Microsoft’s commitment to building its own AI stack while maintaining its partnership with OpenAI. Weiterlesen

Microsoft has begun deploying its home‑grown Maia 200 AI inference chip in its data centers while confirming it will continue purchasing GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the company’s ongoing partnerships and the need to stay ahead in AI hardware. The Maia 200, designed for high‑performance AI model inference, will first be used by Microsoft’s Superintelligence team as they develop frontier models, and will also support OpenAI models on Azure. The move reflects a hybrid strategy of building in‑house chips while leveraging external suppliers. Weiterlesen

Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, posting $81.3 billion in revenue and $38.3 billion in net income while highlighting record cloud revenue of over $50 billion. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that the company’s massive capital expenditures—$88.2 billion last year and $72.4 billion so far this year—are aimed at expanding AI services across Azure, Microsoft 365, and partner labs. He pointed to rapid growth in Copilot products, noting a near‑three‑fold increase in daily consumer users, 4.7 million paid GitHub Copilot subscribers, and 15 million paid seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Nadella insisted the AI demand far exceeds data‑center capacity, underscoring confidence that the spending will translate into broader adoption and future profit. Weiterlesen

Microsoft reported a $7.6 billion increase in net income tied to its partnership with OpenAI, reflecting the AI lab’s rapid revenue growth and a 20% revenue‑share agreement. The relationship also includes a $250 billion Azure services commitment from OpenAI, which now counts for roughly half of Microsoft’s commercial performance obligations. Additional AI investments, such as a $5 billion stake in Anthropic, and $37.5 billion in capital spending for GPUs and CPUs, underscore Microsoft’s aggressive push to dominate the cloud‑based AI market. Weiterlesen

Microsoft and NVIDIA have announced a joint investment of up to $15 billion to support Anthropic, the maker of Claude AI models. Microsoft will invest up to $10 billion while NVIDIA contributes up to $5 billion. In return, Anthropic will purchase $30 billion in Azure cloud capacity and may add up to one gigawatt of additional compute. The partnership also includes integration of Claude models into Microsoft Foundry, and collaboration with NVIDIA to optimize Anthropic’s models for NVIDIA hardware and future architectures. The deal arrives as Microsoft loosens its exclusivity with OpenAI and follows recent large cloud contracts with Amazon. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Anthropic that will make the startup’s Claude AI models available through Microsoft Foundry on Azure. As part of the deal, Anthropic will purchase a large amount of Azure compute capacity and may contract additional capacity up to one gigawatt. Nvidia is also joining the partnership to optimize the models for its future hardware, while both companies commit significant investments. The agreement follows recent changes to Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI and signals a broader push to integrate diverse generative‑AI technologies across Microsoft’s cloud and productivity services. Weiterlesen

Newly obtained documents show that OpenAI paid Microsoft $493.8 million in revenue share for 2024 and $865.8 million for the first three quarters of the following year, reflecting a 20 percent share of OpenAI’s earnings. The data suggests OpenAI’s revenue may have topped $2.5 billion in 2024 and $4.33 billion in the first three quarters of the next year, while its cash‑based inference spend rose to $3.8 billion in 2024 and $8.65 billion in the first nine months of the subsequent period. The disparity between revenue and inference costs raises questions about the startup’s profitability, prompting both firms to decline comment. Weiterlesen

Microsoft has entered a five‑year, $9.7 billion agreement with Australian data‑center operator IREN to secure additional AI cloud capacity. The partnership will tap IREN’s Nvidia GB300 GPU infrastructure, slated for deployment at a Texas facility capable of delivering 750 megawatts of power. IREN is also investing in Dell‑supplied equipment worth about $5.8 billion. The deal positions Microsoft to meet rising demand for AI services on Azure and reflects a broader shift of compute assets from cryptocurrency mining to artificial‑intelligence workloads. Weiterlesen

A revised agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI broadens Microsoft's intellectual property rights through 2032 and ties the duration of those rights to the declaration of artificial general intelligence (AGI) by an expert panel. The deal also allows OpenAI to release open-weight models that meet specific criteria, gives it flexibility to partner with third parties on non‑API products, and removes Microsoft's right of first refusal on cloud services while securing a $250 billion Azure commitment. Revenue sharing will continue until an expert panel confirms AGI, and both companies gain new options for pursuing advanced AI development. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced a major restructuring that consolidates its Windows client and server engineering groups into one organization led by Windows chief Pavan Davuluri. The move reunites most Windows development under a single division, aiming to sharpen focus on the company’s priorities and accelerate the rollout of AI‑driven features. While certain low‑level components will continue to be supported by Azure teams, the bulk of the operating system’s engineering now reports directly to Davuluri, positioning the group to deliver on Microsoft’s vision of an "Agentic OS" and to deepen integration with emerging AI capabilities. Weiterlesen

Microsoft announced a major reorganization that unifies its Windows engineering teams under a single organization led by Pavan Davuluri, the newly appointed president of Windows and Devices. The move brings together client and server engineering, aligning leaders of Core OS, Data Intelligence, Security and other groups under Davuluri's oversight. While some low‑level components will stay with Azure, the bulk of Windows development will now report to a single division, a shift aimed at accelerating the company’s vision of an "Agentic OS" and enhancing AI‑driven features in Windows 11. Weiterlesen