AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) and Microsoft announced an expanded strategic partnership on July 20, 2026, covering GPUs, CPUs, networking, and software across Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.

At the center of the agreement, Microsoft will deploy the AMD Helios Rackscale Solution to power frontier model AI inference for Microsoft, its AI customers, and Azure AI services. AMD said it will begin shipping Helios to customers, including Microsoft, in the second half of 2026.

AMD Helios combines Instinct MI455X GPUs, EPYC "Venice" CPUs, Pensando networking, and ROCm software in a rackscale platform. Azure will use Helios for inference workloads spanning frontier models, Azure AI services, and customer applications.

Azure will also add two new VM series powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC "Venice" processors. The Azure HDv2 series is targeted at agentic AI and data pipelines, while the Azure HXv2 series is aimed at semiconductor design workloads.

The partnership also extends to networking infrastructure. AMD Pensando DPUs will be deployed in AMD AI backend networking and select Azure services. The companies are integrating AMD silicon with Azure Boost to scale cloud networking performance.

"Microsoft's new AMD deployments mark an important milestone as we deliver leadership compute solutions to Azure customers," said Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO of AMD.

Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, said the expanded collaboration with AMD gives customers "the performance, scale and choice they need to build and run the next generation of AI applications."