AMD deploys its rack-scale AI system 'AMD Helios' to Microsoft Azure on a large scale to compete with NVIDIA.

On July 20, 2026, local time, semiconductor giant AMD announced an expansion of its strategic partnership encompassing AMD CPUs, GPUs, networking, and software running on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service. At the heart of this expanded strategic partnership, AMD announced a large-scale deployment of its rack-scale AI system for AI data centers, ' AMD Helios ,' on Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft to Deploy Next-Gen AMD Instinct and AMD EPYC Processors as the Companies Expand Their Long-Term Strategic Partnership - AMD Newsroom
https://newsroom.amd.com/news/microsoft-azure-ai-infrastructure/

Microsoft expands Azure AI and HPC infrastructure with AMD - The Official Microsoft Blog
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/07/20/microsoft-expands-azure-ai-and-hpc-infrastructure-with-amd/

Today, AMD and @Microsoft are announcing an strategic expanded partnership to deliver a full stack of AMD AI solutions for @Azure , spanning GPUs, CPUs, networking and software. At the center of this expansion, Microsoft will deploy AMD Helios to power frontier model AI inference… pic.twitter.com/lCQn8EDRNU

— AMD (@AMD) July 20, 2026

AMD Helios is a rack-scale platform for large-scale AI training and inference, combining the MI455X GPU for AI data centers, the Venice 6th generation EPYC processor manufactured using TSMC's 2nm process, AMD's Pensando networking technology, and the ROCm GPU platform for machine learning.

AMD announces new products including the 'Ryzen AI 400' processor for laptops and the 'MI455X' AI-focused GPU - GIGAZINE

It has been announced that AMD Helios will be deployed on Microsoft Azure. This means that AMD Helios will be used for inference workloads across cutting-edge AI models, Azure AI services, and customer applications.

AMD CEO Lisa Su commented, 'AMD and Microsoft have worked together for many years to build high-performance infrastructure. Today, we are expanding this partnership across the full stack of AMD AI solutions on Azure. Microsoft's new adoption of AMD marks a significant milestone in providing Azure customers with cutting-edge computing solutions and jointly scaling the next generation of AI infrastructure.' Ms. Su also announced the expansion of the strategic partnership with Microsoft on her X account.

Excited to expand our partnership with @Azure to deploy @AMD Helios with our newest MI455X GPUs, Venice CPUs, and Pensando networking. Thanks @satyanadella @scottgu for the continued partnership. Proud of what our teams are building together! https://t.co/fhz1dfpOoA

— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) July 20, 2026

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, 'Customers are looking for AI infrastructure optimized for a wide range of workloads, from AI training and inference to data preparation, search, and reinforcement learning. Through our collaboration with AMD, we are expanding our Azure infrastructure portfolio with AMD Helios to provide customers with the performance, scalability, and choice they need to build and run next-generation AI applications.'

As part of this expanded partnership, Microsoft has added three new VM series to Azure.

Azure HDv2 for AI agents and data pipelines features approximately 500 6th generation AMD EPYC CPU cores, 4 terabytes of RAM, 32 terabytes of local NVMe storage, and 400Gb of Azure Boost networking, designed to meet the workload needs of even the most demanding AI customers.

Azure HXv2 for semiconductor design features 176 AMD 6th generation EPYC CPU cores with clock frequencies exceeding 5GHz, resulting in a 50% increase in addressable cache per core. Furthermore, it boasts VM sizes with 2 terabytes or nearly 4 terabytes of RAM, helping customers optimize their workloads to meet memory requirements.

And the VM for inference, search, and agent workloads that support the latest AI services is the 'ND MI455X v7'. Powered by AMD Helios, it extends Azure infrastructure options for large-scale inference and is designed to provide high performance and efficiency for demanding AI workloads.

According to reports , AMD plans to begin shipping AMD Helios to several customers, including Microsoft, in the second half of 2026. Other AMD customers mentioned include OpenAI, Cohere, SpaceXAI, and Meta.