Microsoft owns the Azure cloud-computing platform and ranks among the world’s most valuable companies.
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-computing business, offering computing power, storage, databases, networking, artificial intelligence tools, and other services. It competes most directly with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
Microsoft launched Azure commercially in 2010, initially under the name Windows Azure. The business became a major growth engine as organizations moved software and data from private servers to cloud infrastructure. Microsoft also combines Azure with products such as Microsoft 365, Windows, and its developer tools.
Microsoft’s market capitalization has placed it among the global leaders alongside Apple, Saudi Aramco, Alphabet, Amazon, and Nvidia. Market capitalization measures the value investors assign to its publicly traded shares, not the company’s annual sales.