Microsoft to Deploy Next-Gen AMD Instinct and AMD EPYC Processors as the Companies Expand Their Long-Term Strategic Partnership
Rhea-AI Summary
AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced an expanded long-term strategic partnership with Microsoft Azure covering GPUs, CPUs, networking and software. Microsoft will deploy the AMD Helios Rackscale Solution, combining Instinct MI455X GPUs, 6th Gen EPYC “Venice” CPUs, Pensando DPUs and ROCm software, to power frontier model AI inference for Microsoft, Azure AI services and customers.
Azure will add two new VM series, HDv2 for agentic AI and data pipelines and HXv2 for semiconductor design, both powered by 6th Gen EPYC “Venice” processors. Microsoft is also broadening deployment of Pensando DPUs and integrating AMD silicon with Azure Boost to enhance cloud networking performance. AMD plans to begin shipping Helios to customers, including Microsoft, in the second half of 2026.
Positive
- Microsoft to deploy AMD Helios at scale for frontier AI inference on Azure
- Two new Azure VM series (HDv2, HXv2) powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC “Venice” CPUs
- Broader Azure use of AMD Pensando DPUs in AI backend networking and select services
- Integration of AMD silicon with Azure Boost to enhance networking performance across Azure infrastructure
- Helios shipments to customers, including Microsoft targeted for the second half of 2026
Negative
- None.
News Market Reaction – AMD
On the day this news was published, AMD gained 1.58%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +6.1% during that session. Our momentum scanner triggered 74 alerts that day, indicating high trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $13.87B to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $891.56B at that time.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Previous Partnership Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 04 | AI partnership | Positive | -5.3% | Zyphra launched an AMD GPU-powered AI cloud; shares fell 5.27%. |
| Feb 24 | Strategic partnership | Positive | +8.8% | AMD and Meta announced GPU deployment plans; shares rose 8.77%. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Partnership-specific reactions were mixed, with one positive and one negative outcome; the tag-specific average move was 1.75%.
Key Terms
dpu technical
rackscale platform technical
ai inference technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
News Highlights
- Microsoft to ramp AMD Helios™ at scale on Azure to power frontier model inference for Microsoft, its AI customers and Azure AI services.
- Azure will add two new VMs powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC™ “Venice” processors
- Azure deploys AMD Pensando™ DPUs in AMD AI backend networking infrastructure and select Azure services.
- The companies are integrating AMD silicon with Azure Boost to scale cloud networking performance across the fleet.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced an expanded strategic partnership spanning AMD GPUs, CPUs, networking and software on Microsoft Azure. At the center of this expansion, Microsoft will deploy the AMD Helios Rackscale Solution, to power frontier model AI inference for Microsoft, its AI customers and support Azure AI services. Azure will also add two new AMD EPYC CPU-powered VM series and broaden its deployment of Pensando DPUs to support Azure networking services. AMD will begin shipping Helios to customers, including Microsoft, in the second half of 2026.
AMD Helios combines AMD Instinct™ MI455X GPUs, AMD EPYC™ "Venice" CPUs, Pensando™ networking and ROCm™ software in an open, integrated rackscale platform built for large-scale AI training and inference. The Azure deployment will use Helios for inference workloads spanning frontier models, Azure AI services and customer applications.
“AMD and Microsoft have spent years building high-performance infrastructure together, and today we're extending that partnership across the full stack of AMD AI solutions on Azure,” said Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD. “Microsoft's new AMD deployments mark an important milestone as we deliver leadership compute solutions to Azure customers and scale the next generation of AI infrastructure together.”
“Customers are looking for AI infrastructure that is optimized for a wide range of workloads, from training and inference to data preparation, search, and reinforcement learning," said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "Through our collaboration with AMD, we are expanding the Azure infrastructure portfolio with AMD Helios to give customers the performance, scale and choice they need to build and run the next generation of AI applications.”
The collaboration expands access to AMD AI infrastructure across Azure. Frontier model builders can now leverage AMD-powered infrastructure to train and serve large-scale AI models, while enterprise customers can deploy and scale production AI workloads through Azure Foundry Managed Compute.
Azure’s new VM series, Azure HDv2 for agentic AI and data pipelines, and Azure HXv2 for semiconductor design, will be powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC “Venice” processors. Together, the new VM series broaden Azure’s AMD EPYC portfolio across AI, data and engineering workloads.
The collaboration also extends into the networking layer that connects and scales Azure infrastructure. Building on Microsoft’s broad deployment of AMD Pensando DPUs, the companies are integrating Azure Boost with AMD technologies to improve networking performance, efficiency and connection processing at cloud scale.
As AI demand accelerates, AMD and Microsoft will continue to deliver open, high-performance infrastructure that gives customers flexibility, efficiency and scale to build what's next.
Supporting Resources
- Learn more about AMD Instinct accelerators
- Learn more about AMD EPYC processors
- Learn more about AMD Pensando networking solutions
- Learn more about AMD and Microsoft collaboration
- Connect with AMD on LinkedIn
- Follow AMD on X
About AMD
AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) drives innovation in high-performance and AI computing to solve the world’s most important challenges. Today, AMD technology powers billions of experiences across cloud and AI infrastructure, embedded systems, AI PCs and gaming. With a broad portfolio of AI-optimized CPUs, GPUs, networking and software, AMD delivers full-stack AI solutions that provide the performance and scalability needed for a new era of intelligent computing. Learn more at www.amd.com.
Cautionary Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) such as the features, functionality, performance, availability, timing and expected benefits of AMD products and expanded collaboration with Microsoft, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects" and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this press release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this press release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Such statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond AMD's control, that could cause actual results and other future events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: impact of government actions and regulations such as export regulations, import tariffs, trade protection measures, and licensing requirements; competitive markets in which AMD’s products are sold; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry; market conditions of the industries in which AMD products are sold; AMD’s ability to introduce products on a timely basis with expected features and performance levels; loss of a significant customer; economic and market uncertainty; quarterly and seasonal sales patterns; AMD's ability to adequately protect its technology or other intellectual property; unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations; ability of third party manufacturers to manufacture AMD's products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; availability of essential equipment, materials, components (such as memory supply), substrates or manufacturing processes; ability to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products; AMD's ability to generate revenue from its semi-custom SoC products; potential security vulnerabilities; potential security incidents including IT outages, data loss, data breaches and cyberattacks; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party intellectual property to design and introduce new products; AMD's reliance on third-party companies for design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software, memory and other computer platform components; AMD's reliance on Microsoft and other software vendors' support to design and develop software to run on AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and add-in-board partners; impact of modification or interruption of AMD’s internal business processes and information systems; compatibility of AMD’s products with some or all industry-standard software and hardware; costs related to defective products; failure to maintain an efficient supply chain as customer demand changes; AMD's ability to rely on third party supply-chain logistics functions; AMD’s ability to effectively control sales of its products on the gray market; impact of climate change on AMD’s business; AMD’s ability to realize its deferred tax assets; potential tax liabilities; current and future claims and litigation; impact of environmental laws, conflict minerals related provisions and other laws or regulations; evolving expectations from governments, investors, customers and other stakeholders regarding corporate responsibility matters; issues related to the responsible use of AI; restrictions imposed by agreements governing AMD’s notes, the guarantees of Xilinx’s notes and the revolving credit agreement; AMD’s ability to satisfy financial obligations under guarantees, leases and other commercial commitments; impact of acquisitions, joint ventures and/or investments on AMD’s business and AMD’s ability to integrate acquired businesses; impact of any impairment of the combined company’s assets; political, legal and economic risks and natural disasters; future impairments of technology license purchases; AMD’s ability to attract and retain key employees; and AMD’s stock price volatility. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in AMD’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to AMD’s most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Instinct, AMD Pensando, AMD ROCm, EPYC and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft, Azure are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contacts: Aaron Grabein AMD Communications 737-256-9518 aaron.grabein@amd.com Investor Contact Liz Stine AMD Investor Relations 720-652-3965 liz.stine@amd.com