Microsoft recently announced it is launching a new company to help clients select AI technologies suited to their business needs and achieve a return on their investments.
The new operating entity, called Microsoft Frontier Company, will begin with $2.5 billion in funding from Microsoft and will work with customers including LSEG, Land O’Lakes, Unilever and Novo Nordisk.
“The pace of AI adoption is moving incredibly fast. Customers have moved well beyond experimentation and understand the importance of adopting AI to transform their business. They are now concentrating on delivering measurable business outcomes and demonstrating a return on their AI investments, while ensuring their intelligence is amplified and their IP is protected,” said the tech giant.
Company to deliver Frontier Transformation through AI for customers
Microsoft Frontier Company is a new operating business focused on delivering Frontier Transformation through AI for customers around the world. It will provide a unique combination of skills inclusive of deep industry knowledge, change management and continuous improvement experience and enterprise-grade AI engineering expertise.
“This goes beyond what has been labeled as Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) and will be the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry. We are making a $2.5B investment in Microsoft Frontier Company, embedding 6,000 industry and engineering experts at customers to co-design, co-innovate, deploy and continuously improve AI systems at scale based on measurable business outcomes,” said Judson Althoff, CEO, Microsoft Commercial Business.
Large enterprises are increasingly moving away from relying on a single AI provider such as Anthropic or OpenAI. Instead, they are adopting a blend of technologies, including open-source models, and customizing them for specific business needs. While this approach offers greater flexibility, it is also expensive and can delay the time it takes to see a return on investment.
Microsoft’s Frontier Company will help clients choose and integrate AI tools—whether from Microsoft or external providers—and combine them with each customer’s proprietary data. Importantly, customers will retain ownership of the outputs generated from this work rather than sending them back to Microsoft.
The Windows-maker is following a broader industry trend, joining firms such as Palantir Technologies, which already uses Nvidia open-source models in similar enterprise deployments, as well as cloud competitor Amazon Web Services, which has launched its own $1 billion embedded-engineer initiative.
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Rodrigo Kede Lima appointed President of Microsoft Frontier Company
Microsoft Frontier Company was built to focus on end-to-end Frontier Transformation, enabling customers to amplify their IQ with AI while refining their differentiated value in the markets that they serve.
Early results demonstrate meaningful impact. The company’s engineers and industry experts partnered with LSEGÂ (London Stock Exchange Group) to embed AI into LSEG Workspace, helping finance professionals ask complex questions and get quick answers across structured and unstructured financial content.
The solution is underpinned by a foundation that is iteratively refined through client feedback and real-time user testing, accelerating each cycle and steadily improving model quality and scope.
To achieve scale, Microsoft Frontier Company will work closely with its partner ecosystem to extend this value to customers across all markets and segments globally.
“We have robust FDE partnerships with our Global SI partners, including Accenture, Capgemini, EY, KPMG, PwC and others,” added the company.
Rodrigo Kede Lima was appointed President of Microsoft Frontier Company. Rodrigo brings 30 years of industry experience, and for the past six at Microsoft, has led enterprise-wide transformations as a sales leader in the Americas and Asia. He has been at the forefront of helping customers and partners translate technology shifts into business outcomes, and understanding how platform innovation, engineering and partner ecosystem collaboration come together to drive growth.
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