At its annual Build Conference for software developers in Seattle on May 19, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that it will begin distributing new AI models from European startups Mistral and Black Forest Labs, as well as Elon Musk’s xAI, which will be stored in Microsoft’s own data centers.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has shown less interest in investing significant funds in OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, while broadening its alliances with more AI developers. This strategy focuses on driving sales growth while controlling costs.
During the event, the tech giant outlined a vision that calls for companies to develop their own AI agents to handle a range of internal tasks. A key component of this vision is Azure Foundry, Microsoft’s artificial intelligence platform, which enables companies to create unique AI agents with models of their choosing.
Notably, users of Microsoft’s Azure cloud services will now have access to over 1,900 different AI model variations, including those from DeepSeek, Meta Platforms Inc., and OpenAI. The addition of Elon Musk’s models broadens the options, though there are still some notable omissions, such as models from Google and the AI startup Anthropic.
While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
