Microsoft's AI advantage isn't all about OpenAI — and Wall Street loves it

Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo Finance 2025 Company of the Year grant victor OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) whitethorn inactive beryllium profoundly intertwined, but Wall Street thinks the existent communicative is however the erstwhile has begun to creation successful the surging satellite of AI each by itself.

And that could enactment the 50-year-old tech icon, known for its Windows operating system, Azure unreality services, and, much recently, Copilot chatbot, successful a premier presumption to adhd trillions to its marketplace headdress implicit the adjacent decade.

"Microsoft volition beryllium astatine a $5 trillion marketplace headdress successful 2026 arsenic the AI gyration hits its adjacent signifier of growth," Wedbush tech expert Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance. Microsoft's existent marketplace cap: $3.59 trillion.

While Microsoft's $5 trillion bid is connected track, its astir captious rider remains OpenAI.

"We've seen ... a batch of the ecosystem truly commencement to determination towards america to assistance america make this future," OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar exclusively told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi (video above).

She added that to conscionable precocious compute demand, which she said is the "foundation" that volition powerfulness the adjacent epoch of AI, the institution volition apt proceed moving with third-party companies — cue Microsoft.

"I'm thrilled that Microsoft is making those investments," co-founder Bill Gates antecedently told Yahoo Finance, noting that portion AI is increasing astatine a "rapid rate," determination is inactive "a large woody of uncertainty there."

Gates expects the nascent exertion to "get highly powerful" successful the adjacent 3 to 5 years, adding that successful the AI arms race, Microsoft is simply a wide "competitor."

The heavy narration began successful 2019, erstwhile Microsoft made an archetypal $1 cardinal concern successful the Sam Altman-led OpenAI — a stake connected next-generation artificial quality that could dramatically displacement the aboriginal of computing and unreality services.

This concern gave Microsoft preferential entree to cutting-edge AI models, a cardinal vantage implicit rival tech giants. In return, OpenAI gained the computing muscle, infrastructure, and organisation needed to bid and deploy AI tools, on with semipermanent backing and stability.

For Microsoft, the woody was ne'er conscionable fiscal — it was a gamble that AI would go the adjacent large level shift, 1 that could redefine the industry, overmuch arsenic Windows erstwhile did for idiosyncratic computing. Since then, Microsoft has reportedly invested astir $13 cardinal successful the ChatGPT shaper — a fig CEO Satya Nadella precocious confirmed.

Microsoft has been mentioned successful the aforesaid enactment arsenic OpenAI ever since that archetypal investment.