Microsoft said on July 2 it will invest US$2.5 billion in Microsoft Frontier Co., a new unit that will place 6,000 employees with customers to help them adopt AI.

The division will combine existing forward-deployed engineers, consultants, support staff, and sales staff.

Microsoft Asia president Rodrigo Kede Lima will lead it.

These engineers typically adapt solutions in customer environments as AI needs shift based on real data, workflows, and legacy systems.

The move follows a US$1 billion AI engineering push from Amazon announced on June 30.

OpenAI and Anthropic also set up forward-deployed engineering groups in May.

Microsoft has spent tens of billions of dollars on data centers for generative AI, but some of its AI products have seen uneven traction.

The company’s enterprise and partner services revenue rose 2.5% from a year earlier to about US$2.1 billion in the March quarter.

The expansion could push Microsoft further into implementation work that is often handled by partners such as Accenture and Avanade.

🔗 Source: CNBC

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