Jan 29 (Reuters) - AI startup Perplexity has signed a $750 million agreement with Microsoft ​to use its Azure cloud service, Bloomberg ‌News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the ‌matter.

The three-year deal will allow Nvidia-backed Perplexity to run a range of AI models through Microsoft's Foundry program, including systems from OpenAI, ⁠Anthropic and xAI, ‌the report said.

"Perplexity has chosen Microsoft Foundry as its primary AI ‍platform for model sourcing under a new multi-year agreement," a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters.

Perplexity did not respond ​to a Reuters request for comment.

A Perplexity ‌spokesperson told Bloomberg News that it was partnering with Microsoft "for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic".

The spokesperson told Bloomberg Perplexity has not shifted spending from Amazon ⁠Web Services, the startup's ​main cloud provider, as part ​of the Microsoft deal.

Amazon sued Perplexity last year over the startup's "agentic" shopping feature, ‍which uses ⁠automation to place orders for users, saying it covertly accessed Amazon customer accounts ⁠and disguised automated activity as human browsing.

(Reporting by Mihika ‌Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja ‌Desai and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

(Bloomberg) -- AI startup Perplexity signed a $750 million deal with Microsoft Corp. to use its Azure cloud service, spreading its business beyond longtime cloud partner Amazon.com Inc.

The three-year commitment will let Perplexity deploy AI models through Microsoft’s Foundry service, including those made by OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, according to people familiar with the deal, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.

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“We are excited to partner with Microsoft for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic,” a Perplexity spokesperson said.

Perplexity hasn’t shifted spending from Amazon Web Services, long the startup’s main cloud provider, as part of the Microsoft deal, the spokesperson added.

“AWS remains Perplexity’s preferred cloud infrastructure provider, and we’re excited to announce expansions of that partnership in the coming weeks,” he said.

Microsoft and Amazon declined to comment.

Perplexity is one of the more richly valued AI startups but faces stiff competition from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and OpenAI in its ambition to rethink how people search for information online. It also hasn’t raised nearly as much capital as OpenAI and Anthropic, which have recently engaged in a wave of infrastructure deals.

Big companies typically rent cloud services from multiple partners, both to get access to unique services and to limit their reliance on any single vendor. That phenomenon has accelerated during the AI age, as businesses experiment with new tools and sign deals with model builders and the cloud providers whose servers run that software.

Perplexity built much of its business on AWS, using Amazon’s Bedrock service to access Anthropic models for Perplexity’s search engine. Perplexity Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas is a repeat speaker at AWS conferences, saying in a 2023 appearance that he had decided to go “all-in” on Amazon’s cloud. AWS, in turn, has held up Perplexity as one of the cutting-edge AI customers using its services.

Still, in recent months the two companies have been engaged in a legal fight. In November, Amazon sued Perplexity to try and stop the startup from letting consumers use its AI tools to shop and buy items from the Seattle-based cloud and e-commerce company’s online marketplace. Perplexity responded by calling Amazon a bully and its actions “a threat to user choice.” Srinivas said in November that his company has made “hundreds of millions” in commitments to AWS.

Investing.com -- AI search startup Perplexity has signed a $750 million agreement with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to utilize its Azure cloud infrastructure. According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the three-year commitment allows Perplexity to deploy frontier models via Microsoft’s Foundry service.

The deal highlights Microsoft’s aggressive push to establish Azure as the premier destination for diverse AI application development. By hosting models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, Microsoft is positioning itself as an essential hub for high-growth startups.

The shift comes as Perplexity remains locked in a federal legal battle with its primary cloud provider, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). In November, Amazon filed suit to prevent the startup from using AI agents to facilitate automated shopping on its marketplace.

Despite the friction, Perplexity maintains that its foundational relationship with Amazon Web Services remains intact for the time being. “AWS remains Perplexity’s preferred cloud infrastructure provider, and we’re excited to announce expansions of that partnership in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

The startup’s expansion into Microsoft’s ecosystem follows the launch of its "Comet" shopping agent, which drew Amazon's ire. Amazon alleges the tool violates its terms of service by masquerading as a human user to complete transactions.

“We are excited to partner with Microsoft for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic,” a Perplexity spokesperson said regarding the new deal. The move provides Perplexity with necessary redundancy as it competes against heavyweights like Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

Valued at roughly $20 billion as of September 2025, Perplexity is under pressure to scale its infrastructure rapidly. While it has raised significant capital, it still trails the massive war chests of rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Microsoft’s Foundry service will now serve as a critical secondary engine for Perplexity’s ambitious search and "agentic commerce" features. The partnership underscores a broader trend of AI firms diversifying their cloud dependencies to continue scaling operations.

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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Microsoft (MSFT, Financials) has allegedly signed a $750 million cloud deal with AI startup Perplexity, which would let the business run and grow its AI models on Microsoft's Azure platform.The three-year deal is a big gain for Microsoft, which is still getting big AI clients even though it is competing with Amazon Web Services (AMZN). Perplexity, which is recognized for its generative AI search tools, used to mostly use AWS for its cloud infrastructure.The agreement gives Microsoft a bigger presence in the fast-growing AI hosting sector. It builds on its current partnerships with OpenAI and other businesses that use Azure to train and deploy large scale models.Analysts say the deal is another indicator of Microsoft's strong growth in cloud computing, as demand for AI pushes record expenditure on infrastructure throughout the tech industry.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) just picked up another notable win in the AI cloud race. The company has reportedly signed a $750 million, three-year cloud deal with AI startup Perplexity, giving the fast-growing firm another place to run its increasingly heavy workloads.

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Under the agreement, Perplexity will use Microsoft's Azure platform and its Foundry service to deploy AI models, including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, according to Bloomberg. For Perplexity, the move is about flexibility. As demand for AI compute keeps climbing, relying on just one cloud provider can be limiting.

This isn't a clean break from Amazon Web Services, which has long been Perplexity's main cloud partner. The company said it isn't shifting spending away from AWS, signaling a deliberate multi-cloud strategy rather than a switch.