New York, May 21, 2026, 15:01 (EDT)
Microsoft shares slipped in mid-afternoon trade Thursday, down around 0.3% at $419.62. A new report flagged Anthropic’s potential use of Microsoft’s AI chips, but that didn’t lift the stock. The Invesco QQQ Trust added about 0.2% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF was up roughly 0.3%. Microsoft’s market cap was near $3.12 trillion.
Why it matters: Microsoft says it is making big bets on cloud and AI, pouring money into chips, data centers, and leases. Investors are watching to see if those outlays bring lasting revenue — or just drive up costs.
Anthropic is holding early discussions to lease servers that run on Microsoft-designed chips, according to Reuters, which cited a report from The Information. Microsoft declined to comment on rumors or speculation. Anthropic did not answer Reuters’ request for comment. The talks are still in early stages and there is no deal yet.
The report moves the focus to a live debate about Microsoft’s AI business model. If Anthropic decides to use Microsoft chips for inference—the process of running AI to handle user requests—it could make Microsoft a supplier to third parties, not only for its own Azure and Copilot. In January, Microsoft called its Maia 200 chip an “inference accelerator” meant to boost the economics of AI token generation. The Official Microsoft Blog
It would also give Microsoft a sharper edge against Nvidia, which still leads the AI infrastructure space, and against Alphabet and Amazon, both pitching their custom chips in the cloud. According to Reuters, Anthropic is already a significant buyer of custom chips via Amazon and Google deals, as AI firms try to sidestep Nvidia’s expensive and limited-supply processors.
Microsoft’s work with Anthropic isn’t new, it’s just expanding. Back in November, Microsoft, Nvidia and Anthropic said they would partner. Anthropic agreed to buy $30 billion in Azure compute time and said it would secure up to one gigawatt more in capacity—an unusually big commitment for Microsoft’s cloud.
Microsoft’s last quarter numbers gave bulls something to point to. The tech giant reported $82.9 billion in revenue for the March quarter, up 18%. Microsoft Cloud booked $54.5 billion, up 29%, while Azure and other cloud businesses grew 40%. CEO Satya Nadella said the AI business is now running at a $37 billion annual revenue rate, which is 123% higher than last year.
Spending is still the tougher issue. On the April earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said capital expenditures hit $31.9 billion for the quarter, with about two-thirds going to short-lived assets like GPUs and CPUs. Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler told the call there’s “a bit of a disconnect” between capex growth and revenue. Hood said Microsoft is pushing to turn that spending into revenue “as quickly as we can.” Microsoft
Another factor Thursday was Microsoft going ex-dividend. That means buyers no longer get the company’s next cash payout. Microsoft is paying a $0.91 per share dividend June 11 to holders as of May 21.
Tech stocks moved higher, though gains were measured. A Reuters review of recent Magnificent Seven results said investors remain in on the long-term potential of AI but are eyeing how fast those bets will pay off. Isabelle Freidheim, founder and managing partner at Athena Capital, told Reuters there was “no reason” for investors to drop what’s worked in concentrated tech indexes. Reuters
Microsoft shareholders face risk if the AI infrastructure bet takes longer to deliver than the market expects. The company says cloud and AI are both areas with execution and competitive risks, warns big spending might not pay off, and notes talks with Anthropic about chips are only in early stages.
