Perplexity and Microsoft Sign a $750 Million Azure Cloud Agreement

AI startup Perplexity has signed a three-year cloud services agreement worth around $750 million with Microsoft, indicating a significant expansion beyond its long-standing reliance on Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

According to persons familiar with the situation, Perplexity will use Microsoft Azure as part of the agreement to implement AI models via Microsoft’s Foundry platform, including models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. The collaboration was verified by a Perplexity representative, who described it as a chance to gain access to a wide variety of cutting-edge AI models. 

The business made it clear that the deal did not take the place of its partnership with Amazon. Perplexity’s major cloud provider is still AWS, and in the upcoming weeks, the business intends to deepen that collaboration. Amazon and Microsoft declined to comment. 

One of the more highly regarded AI startups, Perplexity, is vying with industry titans like Google and OpenAI to reinvent internet search. It is using a multi-cloud approach to access a variety of technologies and lessen reliance on a single vendor, just like many big businesses in the AI era. 

The agreement enhances Azure’s standing as a platform for developing and implementing AI applications utilizing models from many suppliers, which benefits Microsoft. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, recently stated that expanding adoption reflects customers’ growing expectations for flexibility across models.