Microsoft owns Azure, its cloud-computing platform and a major contributor to Microsoft’s multitrillion-dollar market value.
Azure provides computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, and artificial-intelligence services over the internet. It competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, and it serves businesses, governments, developers, and educational institutions.
Microsoft introduced Azure as Windows Azure in 2010 and renamed it Microsoft Azure in 2014. The platform helped shift Microsoft’s business toward recurring cloud and subscription revenue, alongside products such as Microsoft 365.
Azure is not the same as Microsoft 365. Azure is an infrastructure and platform cloud service, while Microsoft 365 is a subscription suite centered on productivity applications and collaboration tools. Both businesses support Microsoft’s large market capitalization.