On January 30, 2026, the AI - focused startup Perplexity entered into a three - year deal valued at $750 million with Microsoft. The purpose of this agreement is to leverage Microsoft Azure cloud services and deploy AI models via Microsoft Foundry services. A spokesperson from Perplexity clarified that while the collaboration is aimed at gaining access to state - of - the - art AI models, it does not mean a diversion of spending from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has been its main cloud service provider, to Microsoft. In the context of the tech industry, such multi - cloud strategies are becoming increasingly common. Companies often opt to work with multiple cloud service providers to enhance flexibility, mitigate risks, and tap into the unique strengths of each platform. Perplexity's move reflects this trend, as it seeks to combine the benefits of AWS's established infrastructure with the advanced AI capabilities offered through its partnership with Microsoft.