Perplexity AI Secures $750 Million Cloud Partnership with Microsoft, Diversifying from AWS
January 30, 2026
In a significant move within the competitive AI infrastructure landscape, the AI-powered search engine Perplexity has entered into a major cloud computing agreement with Microsoft, valued at $750 million over three years. This deal marks a strategic diversification for Perplexity, which has historically relied exclusively on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its cloud needs. According to a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter, the agreement will grant Perplexity access to Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and its Foundry service, enabling the deployment of advanced AI models. A Perplexity spokesperson stated, “We are excited to partner with Microsoft for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI, and Anthropic,” while also emphasizing that “AWS remains Perplexity’s preferred cloud infrastructure provider, and we’re excited to announce expansions of that partnership in the coming weeks." The partnership is notable given Perplexity's previous deep ties to AWS. Co-founder Arvind Srinivas declared the company was "all-in" on AWS in 2023. However, the relationship was tested by a legal dispute in which Amazon alleged that Perplexity's AI browser agent, Comet, engaged in "computer fraud" related to online purchases. The newly announced $750 million commitment to Microsoft signals a deliberate strategy to mitigate infrastructure risk and leverage a broader ecosystem of AI tools. Founded in 2022 and recently valued at $20 billion following a $200 million funding round in September 2025, Perplexity is backed by investors including Nvidia. This substantial cloud expenditure underscores the immense computational scale required to train and serve next-generation AI models, a capital-intensive reality facing all major AI firms. For Microsoft, securing a high-value client like Perplexity provides a vote of confidence in its AI infrastructure capabilities, potentially helping to alleviate investor concerns about the concentration of its cloud revenue obligations. The deal highlights the intensifying battle among hyperscalers to capture the lucrative business of fast-growing AI companies, reshaping traditional cloud alliances and spending patterns across the industry. Source: datacenterdynamics
