Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a $2.5 billion investment to launch Microsoft Frontier Company, a new operating business focused on helping organizations deploy artificial intelligence at scale by embedding engineering and industry experts directly within customers’ operations.
The company said it plans to deploy 6,000 engineers, consultants, customer support specialists and industry-specific sales professionals alongside customers to co-design, deploy and continuously improve AI systems tailored to their businesses. Microsoft said the initiative extends the industry’s “forward deployment engineering” model by combining AI engineering expertise with industry knowledge and change management capabilities.
Rodrigo Quede Lima, who currently heads Microsoft’s Asian operations, will become president of Microsoft Frontier Company.
According to Microsoft, this new division aims to help customers go beyond AI experimentation and focus on measurable business outcomes and return on investment, while protecting their own data and intellectual property.
According to the company, the platform enables customers to use AI models from multiple providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft AI, open source models, and industry-specific models, instead of requiring a single vendor. Microsoft also emphasized that customer data and intellectual property will not be used to train AI models in a way that could undermine a company’s competitive advantage.
Citing early implementation examples with organizations such as London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Land O’Lakes, Unilever, and Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), Microsoft said these projects have produced measurable business outcomes by integrating AI into business workflows.
The company added that it will work with global system integration partners including Accenture, Capgemini, EY, KPMG and PwC to scale this initiative around the world.
The announcement comes as competition among major technology companies to help enterprises implement AI continues to intensify. Earlier this week, Amazon announced a $1 billion AI adoption initiative, and OpenAI and Anthropic also created customer adoption teams this year aimed at accelerating enterprise AI adoption.
