AI 2026: Microsoft’s Transformation Into a Data Center Giant
The software conglomerate has become the second-most valuable company in the world through a pivot to data centers and early support for new AI advances. It is betting further on AI.
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Microsoft is the second-most valuable company in the world as of October 2025, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.8 trillion (MSFT).1 The U.S. software conglomerate is also the single largest investor in and backer of OpenAI, the world’s leading artificial intelligence company and the most valuable privately-held company in the world with a valuation of $500 billion.2 Since 2019, Microsoft has cumulatively invested over $13 billion into OpenAI in exchange for a special albeit evolving partnership with the company, which has included provisions such as rights to use OpenAI’s intellectual property and a privileged ability to sell access to computing power and data storage to the company from its “cloud computing” platform Microsoft Azure.3 Microsoft is uniquely capable of funding big-budget investments into technology thanks to its diverse and highly profitable business empire spanning a range of basic software and hardware services, which have today made it the fourth-most profitable company in the world with yearly earnings estimated at $123 billion.4