- Headquarters
- Redmond, United States · North America
- Value chain
- Software & platforms(Products); also Operations & infrastructure
- What that means
- Makes software products: models, platforms, applications and security software, sold or licensed.
- Founded
- 1975
- Staff
- 228,000 (2025)
- Ownership
- Listed
- Listing
- Nasdaq:MSFT on Google Finance
- Website
- microsoft.com
- Relevance
- Very high at its strongest, in Protective Cybersecurity Technologies
Redmond, United StatesIn 9 capabilities
Each capability the company is listed in, most relevant first: how experts in the field see its global relevance there, why it is listed and the source.
Connectivity, Cyber & Trust Technologies · Design · listed #1 of 50
Largest security vendor by revenue, with Defender (XDR/endpoint), Sentinel (SIEM), Entra (identity) and Purview, and among the top international patent applicants in this field.
Relevance: Largest security vendor across endpoint, SIEM and identity
- Applied AI & Advanced AnalyticsVery high
Artificial Intelligence · Software & services · listed #1 of 50
Runs Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Fabric and Power BI, the largest enterprise channel for deploying AI and analytics, and is a top international AI patent filer.
Relevance: Azure AI, Copilot, Fabric and Power BI dominate enterprise AI adoption.
Connectivity, Cyber & Trust Technologies · Software & services · listed #1 of 50
Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is the world's most widely used enterprise identity platform, and Microsoft also leads in passkey/FIDO, verified ID and confidential computing patents and deployments.
Relevance: Entra ID is the most widely used enterprise identity platform
Artificial Intelligence · Software & services · listed #4 of 50
Runs a dedicated AI Red Team, the open-source PyRIT red-teaming toolkit and Azure AI Content Safety/Prompt Shields, and is a leading patent filer in this field.
Relevance: Dedicated AI Red Team, PyRIT and content-safety tooling.
Artificial Intelligence · Operation · listed #5 of 50
Largest investor in and cloud host for OpenAI, operator of Azure AI supercomputers, and developer of its own Phi and MAI models.
Relevance: Hosts and funds frontier training; own Phi and MAI models less central.
Quantum Technologies · Research · listed #5 of 50
Develops topological qubits (Majorana 1 chip), the Azure Quantum cloud platform and qubit-virtualisation work with Quantinuum and Atom Computing.
Relevance: Azure Quantum and topological qubit programme; major ecosystem influence
Robotics & Autonomous Systems · Design · listed #6 of 50
It created the HoloLens mixed-reality headset and the US Army IVAS programme built on it (the programme was handed to Anduril in 2025), and it holds a large mixed-reality patent portfolio.
Relevance: HoloLens pioneered enterprise mixed reality
Quantum Technologies · Research · listed #8 of 50
Microsoft Research co-designed FrodoKEM and other PQC candidates, added ML-KEM and ML-DSA to SymCrypt and Windows, and runs a company-wide Quantum Safe Program.
Relevance: PQC research and OS-wide ML-KEM/ML-DSA deployment
Semiconductors & Advanced Computing · Operation · listed #10 of 50
Operates among the largest AI supercomputers through Azure (including OpenAI's training clusters) and designs the Maia AI accelerator and Cobalt CPU.
Relevance: Operates among the largest AI supercomputers