SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. announced a major cloud infrastructure partnership Tuesday with Anthropic and NVIDIA Corp. in a strategic shift from its exclusive relationship with OpenAI as the tech giant diversifies its artificial intelligence (AI) portfolio.
The multibillion-dollar deal is highlighted by Anthropic’s pledge to purchase $30 billion in computing capacity from Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. NVIDIA, meanwhile, will invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic, while Microsoft will contribute up to $5 billion to the San Francisco-based company.
The news, announced in a joint video call with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, coincided with Microsoft’s annual Ignite developer conference here at Chase Center — home of the Golden State Warriors.
“This is all about deepening our commitment to bringing the best infrastructure, model choice and applications to our customers,” Nadella said, emphasizing the collaboration enhances rather than replace Microsoft’s close relationship with OpenAI. (Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI.)
Until earlier this year, Microsoft served as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider and built its Copilot AI assistant on ChatGPT technology. However, that relationship has loosened as OpenAI pursued independent cloud deals with Oracle Corp., SoftBank Group, and others. Despite the shifting dynamics, Microsoft maintains significant ties to OpenAI, holding approximately 27% ownership in the new for-profit entity OpenAI is establishing to advance its commercial operations.
The partnership also addresses enormous computational demands of advanced AI systems. OpenAI and Anthropic operate at substantial costs without yet achieving profitability. Under the new agreement, Anthropic gains access to up to one gigawatt of capacity from NVIDIA’s AI chips.
“I’ve admired the work of Anthropic and Dario for a long time, and this is the first time we are going to deeply partner with Anthropic to accelerate Claude,” Huang said.
Later in the day at Ignite, Microsoft unveiled AI tools aimed at weaving AI capabilities directly into corporate workflows rather than treating the technology as an optional enhancement.
The software giant showcased products bearing the IQ branding, short for intelligence quotient, that spans from individual workstations to enterprise data centers.
Work IQ, a software layer that powers Microsoft’s 365 Copilot AI assistant by analyzing user behavior, collaboration patterns and content interactions, mines data from emails, files, meetings and chats to surface insights and recommends next steps on projects, according to Microsoft. The technology will also enable companies to create custom AI agents tailored to specific workflows and business requirements.
Microsoft also introduced Fabric IQ and Foundry IQ, which provide comprehensive visibility into business operations across the enterprise.
Additionally, the company announced Microsoft Agent 365, a management platform allowing organizations to monitor, control, and secure both Microsoft and third-party AI agents.
Research firm IDC projects businesses will deploy 1.3 billion AI agents to automate workflows by 2028, underscoring the scale of transformation underway in corporate IT infrastructure.
“It is a clear double down on AI, with Microsoft Work IQ standing out as the main announcement,” David Fischer, chief sales officer at Luware, said in an email. “Microsoft is also pushing AI beyond the experimental phase and making a stronger case that measurable ROI is now within reach. With the shift from AI to the new IQ branding and the inclusion of Anthropic and the Claude models in Microsoft Foundry, they are sharpening their story and strengthening their position, even if it does come with another round of renaming.”
