GPU Cloud Provider · Redmond, Washington, USA
Azure (Microsoft)
Microsoft Azure provides a comprehensive cloud platform with a strong focus on AI and machine learning workloads through its AI-optimized infrastructure. These offerings include a suite of specialized virtual machines equipped with powerful GPUs, including NVIDIA's latest data center GPUs, to meet the demands of deep learning and scientific computing applications.
GPUs
2
Founded
2010
Countries
31
Data Centers
53
Uptime SLA
99.9%
Team Size
10,000+
GPU Marketplace
NVIDIA GB300 NVL72On-Demand
NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIeOn-Demand
Company Profile
Company TypeHyperscaler
Provider TypeHyperscaler
Founded2010
HeadquartersRedmond, Washington, USA
Legal EntityMicrosoft Corporation
FundingPublic (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Total RaisedNot applicable (public company)
Team Size10,000+
Infrastructure
GPU FleetNVIDIA H100 SXM5 80GB, NVIDIA H100 NVL 94GB, NVIDIA A100 80GB SXM, NVIDIA A100 40GB PCIe, NVIDIA V100 32GB, NVIDIA V100 16GB, NVIDIA T4, NVIDIA A10, AMD MI300X, NVIDIA H200
Total GPU CapacityNot disclosed (estimated hundreds of thousands of GPUs globally)
Network FabricInfiniBand, Ethernet
ConnectivityUp to 400Gbps
StorageNVMe, SSD, Blob Storage, Premium Disk Storage
Data Center TierTier 3+ and Tier 4 equivalent; Microsoft-owned facilities with SSAE 18 / ISO 27001 certifications across 60+ regions
Bare MetalYes, via Azure Dedicated Host and BareMetal Infrastructure for select workloads
AvailabilityGeneral Availability
EnterpriseGovernmentStartupResearchEducation
Compute & Deployment
On-DemandYes
Spot / InterruptibleYes (Azure Spot VMs, up to 90% savings over pay-as-you-go, eviction-based)
Reserved InstancesYes (1-year and 3-year Reserved VM Instances with significant discounts)
Bare MetalYes (Azure Dedicated Host for isolated physical servers)
VM-BasedYes (N-series, ND-series, NC-series GPU VMs)
Container-BasedYes (Docker via Azure Container Instances and Azure Kubernetes Service)
KubernetesYes (managed K8s via Azure Kubernetes Service - AKS)
Serverless GPUYes (Azure Container Apps and Azure Machine Learning serverless endpoints)
Spin-Up Time2-5 minutes for standard GPU VMs; up to 10-15 minutes for large ND-series clusters
TerraformYes (official HashiCorp-registry provider: hashicorp/azurerm)
GPU Hardware
Latest GenH100 SXM, H100 PCIe, ND H100 v5, NC H100 v5
Legacy SupportA100, V100, T4, A10, A100 PCIe
Multi-GPU NodesYes (up to 8x per node)
Max GPUs/Node8
NVLinkYes (NVLink 4.0 on SXM nodes)
InfiniBandYes (NDR 400Gbps on ND H100 v5)
PCIe vs SXMBoth PCIe and SXM
HGX PlatformYes (HGX H100 8-GPU)
Liquid CoolingSelect SKUs
Pricing Model
Per HourYes (primary billing unit)
Per MinuteYes (per-second billing, minimum 1 minute)
SubscriptionYes (monthly/annual Reserved Instances and Savings Plans)
Reserved DiscountUp to 72% off with 3-year reserved commitment; ~40% off with 1-year commitment
Spot DiscountUp to 90% off on-demand with Azure Spot VMs
Public PricingYes
Hidden FeesPublic IP address charges (~$0.004/hr), load balancer fees, Azure Bastion charges if used
Egress Charges$0.087/GB for first 10TB/month outbound (North America/Europe); free within same region
Pay-as-you-goYes
Credit SystemYes (Azure credits available via promotions, MSDN subscriptions, and new account free credits)
Performance & Scaling
Multi-Node TrainingYes (up to 1000+ nodes with NCCL and MPI via Azure CycleCloud and HPC clusters)
Max Cluster SizeNot disclosed (NDv5/NDmv4 series supports large-scale clusters; practical deployments in thousands of GPUs via CycleCloud)
Elastic ScalingYes (add/remove nodes dynamically via Azure CycleCloud and VMSS)
Auto ScalingYes (policy-based auto-scaling via Azure Machine Learning and VMSS autoscale)
InfiniBandYes (HDR 200Gbps and NDR 400Gbps InfiniBand on ND-series HPC VMs)
NVSwitchYes (on SXM-based ND H100 v5 and ND A100 v4 nodes)
SLA99.9%
Perf IsolationPartial (dedicated VM instances with SR-IOV but not always bare metal; bare metal available via Azure Dedicated Host)
Noisy NeighborPartial (SR-IOV isolation and Accelerated Networking reduce interference; full bare metal via Azure Dedicated Host)
Developer Experience
OnboardingSelf-service via Azure Portal or CLI in minutes; enterprise onboarding with dedicated Technical Account Managers and Solution Architects available
FrameworksTensorFlow, PyTorch, Caffe, JAX, RAPIDS
SDK LanguagesPython, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, C#, .NET, Go, Ruby, PHP, PowerShell
CLI ToolingFull Azure CLI (az) with comprehensive GPU VM management, Azure ML CLI v2, Azure Developer CLI (azd), and PowerShell modules
JupyterNative via Azure Machine Learning Studio with managed JupyterLab and Jupyter Notebook environments
TemplatesLLM Fine-tuning, PyTorch Training, TensorFlow Training, Stable Diffusion, Hugging Face Models, ONNX Runtime, DeepSpeed, Megatron-LM, Azure AI Model Catalog deployments
Model MarketplaceAzure AI Model Catalog with models from OpenAI, Meta (Llama), Mistral, Hugging Face, and others; Azure Marketplace for third-party AI solutions
DocumentationComprehensive docs with tutorials, API reference, architecture guides, and extensive learning paths via Microsoft Learn
API FeaturesCLI, SDK, REST API, Azure Resource Manager templates
Security & Compliance
SecurityCompliance certifications, regular security assessments
ComplianceSOC 1, SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and more
ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018 certifiedSOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3 Type II auditedFedRAMP High authorizedHIPAA/HITECH compliantPCI DSS Level 1 certifiedOpenAI strategic partner and primary cloudUsed by 95% of Fortune 500 companiesNVIDIA DGX Cloud partner
Data Center Locations
Coverage
CountriesUnited States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, UAE, Qatar, Israel, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand
CitiesBoydton VA, Chicago IL, Des Moines IA, San Antonio TX, Phoenix AZ, Quincy WA, Redmond WA, Cheyenne WY, Atlanta GA, Miami FL, Toronto, Quebec City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Warsaw, Stockholm, Oslo, Gavle, Zurich, Geneva, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Busan, Singapore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Auckland
Multi-Region FailoverYes (automatic failover with paired regions and availability zones)
Latency TiersUltra-low (<1ms intra-DC), Standard cloud latency across regions, ExpressRoute for dedicated low-latency connectivity
North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle EastAfricaSouth America
Compliance Regions
EU Data ResidencyYes (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Warsaw, Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, Zurich) — EU Data Boundary program available
US Gov CloudYes (FedRAMP High authorized — Azure Government regions in Virginia, Texas, Arizona; Azure DoD regions available)
India RegionYes (Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad)
Datacenter Locations
Key Strengths
Exclusive strategic partnership with OpenAI and first-mover access to latest OpenAI models
Largest enterprise cloud with deepest Microsoft ecosystem integration (Active Directory, Teams, Office 365)
Azure Arc enables true hybrid and multi-cloud GPU workloads
Azure AI Model Catalog with broadest managed model selection
Global footprint with 60+ regions and Availability Zones for enterprise resilience
Known Limitations
Complex pricing and SKU landscape can be difficult to navigate
GPU availability can be constrained in certain regions without reservations
Higher base cost compared to specialized GPU cloud startups for pure compute workloads
Azure ML platform has a steep learning curve for new users
Spot VM eviction rates can be high for H100/A100 SKUs during peak demand
Additional Information
Support Options
24/7 technical support, dedicated account managers
Community
Microsoft Tech Community forums, Azure GitHub repositories, Microsoft Q&A, Stack Overflow presence, Microsoft Build/Ignite annual conferences, Azure YouTube channel
Green Energy
100% renewable energy by 2025 commitment; carbon negative by 2030; water positive by 2030; zero waste by 2030
PUE Rating
1.12 average global PUE (as reported by Microsoft)
Core Proposition
Deeply integrated Azure ecosystem with enterprise-grade compliance, hybrid cloud via Azure Arc, and tight Microsoft 365/Teams/GitHub integration for end-to-end AI and productivity workloads.
Notable Customers
OpenAI
LinkedIn
GitHub
SAP
Boeing
Coca-Cola
Toyota
Walmart
Payment Methods
Credit CardWire TransferInvoice/Enterprise AgreementAzure MarketplaceCloud Solution Provider (CSP)Microsoft Customer Agreement
Last updated March 2026. Information subject to change.