Microsoft Secures $17.4B AI Infrastructure Deal with Nebius to Bolster Azure Growth

Microsoft has quietly secured a strategic advantage in the AI arms race through a $17.4 billion deal with Nebius. The five-year agreement provides immediate access to 300MW of GPU capacity in New Jersey—critical infrastructure as the industry faces severe shortages of compute resources. This offloads pressure from Microsoft's own data center build-out while Azure scales to meet unprecedented demand.

The transaction reflects a broader trend of tech giants locking in supply chains for AI infrastructure. With enterprises increasingly demanding turnkey solutions for model training and inference, such partnerships may become decisive competitive differentiators. Microsoft's record capex and this Nebius collaboration suggest confidence in sustaining Azure's growth trajectory despite premium valuations.