Perplexity & Microsoft Sign a $750 Million AI Cloud Contract

AI startup Perplexity has reportedly signed a three-year deal for a $750 million deal for infrastructure service with Microsoft to use its Azure cloud platform , according to Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Perplexity, a company backed by Nvidia, has entered a three-year agreement to use Microsoft’s Foundry program, giving it the ability to run AI models from multiple leading firms, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, according to the report.

Requests for comment from Reuters were not immediately answered by Perplexity or Microsoft.

A Perplexity spokeswoman confirmed ‌to Bloomberg that it was cooperating with Microsoft “for ‍access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic”.

As part of the Microsoft arrangement, the company’s primary cloud supplier, Amazon Web Services, has not changed its spending, the official told Bloomberg Perplexity.

Last year, Amazon filed a lawsuit against Perplexity over the startup’s “agentic” shopping tool, which employs automation to arrange orders for users. The lawsuit claimed that Perplexity secretly entered Amazon customer accounts and passed off automated activity as human browsing. 

The main points of the agreement are as follows:

• Model Access via Foundry: To access and implement frontier models from various developers, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, Perplexity will make use of Microsoft Azure’s Foundry service.
• Multi-Cloud Strategy: Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to be Perplexity’s “preferred cloud infrastructure provider” in spite of this enormous commitment. The startup has chosen a multi-cloud strategy for increased stability and model diversity rather than shifting current investment away from AWS.
• Legal Conflict with Amazon: Perplexity and Amazon are still embroiled in a legal dispute over Perplexity’s “agentic” shopping tool, which Amazon claims breaches its terms of service.
• Strategic Expansion: In order to effectively compete with Google and OpenAI, Perplexity is utilising the collaboration to scale its infrastructure and search features, which are valued at approximately $20 billion (as of late 2025).

Perplexity is anticipated to keep using Amazon Web Services for a portion of its current cloud infrastructure in spite of the agreement with Microsoft. In order to increase flexibility and resilience as its operations expand, the company has made it clear that the Azure partnership does not replace its present cloud arrangements. Instead, it focuses on diversifying computing resources.

The agreement also highlights the growing competition among international cloud providers to acquire rapidly expanding technological firms engaged in data-intensive applications and advanced computing. By providing access to a wide choice of models, tools, and corporate services, Microsoft Azure has been solidifying its position and attracting businesses looking for scalable infrastructure.

The deal, according to Perplexity AI, comes at a time when the search and information discovery industry is becoming more competitive, with innovative platforms posing a threat to established search engines. Businesses like Google are still making significant investments in search innovation, which puts more pressure on up-and-coming firms to grow swiftly and uphold performance standards.

Large cloud commitments of this kind indicate long-term growth aspirations for AI-focused companies, according to industry observers. As investment flows into the sector remain strong, partnerships between cloud providers and AI startups are expected to play a crucial role in creating the next phase of digital search and information access.