Microsoft and AMD expand strategic partnership to deploy the Helios rackscale AI platform across Azure data centers

Microsoft and AMD have expanded their long-standing partnership to integrate AMD’s Helios rackscale solution into the Azure cloud infrastructure. The administration announced that the Helios system will power frontier model AI inference and support various Azure AI services. This move provides customers with a high-performance, integrated platform that combines AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs, EPYC "Venice" CPUs, Pensando networking, and ROCm software. The collaboration also introduces two new virtual machine series to the Azure portfolio. The HDv2 VMs are designed for agentic AI and data pipelines, while the HXv2 VMs target semiconductor design and high-performance computing. These new offerings aim to provide greater scale and choice for developers building the next generation of AI applications. AMD will begin shipping the Helios platform to customers, including Microsoft, in the second half of 2026. This expansion follows a history of collaboration where AMD chips have powered Microsoft’s Surface PCs and Xbox consoles.

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