Microsoft owns the Azure cloud-computing platform.
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-services business, providing computing power, storage, databases, networking, analytics, artificial intelligence tools, and developer services. It competes with major platforms including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
Microsoft announced Windows Azure in 2008, and the service became commercially available in 2010. The name changed to Microsoft Azure in 2014, reflecting its broader role beyond hosting Windows applications. Azure supports both Microsoft technologies and many open-source tools and programming languages.
Microsoft’s market value is supported by several major businesses, including Windows, Office, LinkedIn, gaming, enterprise software, and cloud computing. Azure is especially important because cloud subscriptions generate recurring revenue and connect closely with Microsoft 365, SQL Server, GitHub, and artificial-intelligence services. Azure is not the same product as Microsoft 365: Azure supplies cloud infrastructure and platform services, while Microsoft 365 is primarily a productivity-software subscription.