Microsoft to deploy AMD Helios in Azure, shares rise

Microsoft will deploy Advanced Micro Devices’ Helios Rackscale Solution at scale within its Azure cloud to run heavy-duty AI inference workloads for Microsoft’s internal services and for Azure enterprise and AI lab customers. The announcement arrived days before AMD’s Advancing AI 2026 conference on July 22–23 and coincided with a rise in AMD shares on Monday.

Each Helios rack will house 72 Instinct MI455X GPUs paired with sixth-generation EPYC Venice CPUs. AMD expects the GPU array to provide more than 31 terabytes of HBM4 memory capacity. Systems are planned to begin shipping in the second half of 2026. Azure intends to offer two new virtual machine series, HDv2 and HXv2, built on Venice, and to increase deployment of AMD’s Pensando data processing units across its AI networking stack.

Investors reacted quickly: AMD shares rose after the announcement, adding to a year-to-date gain of more than 100%. KeyBanc and UBS maintained price targets of $725 and $700, respectively, while Jefferies noted expectations that AMD could announce additional hyperscaler deals at its event. Analysts forecast a ramp in GPU-related sales into 2027, and some market participants pointed to Anthropic hiring ROCm specialists as a possible sign of interest in AMD’s software stack. The consensus analyst rating on AMD is Strong Buy, with some price targets reaching $755.

AMD describes the MI455X as a high-memory, high-throughput accelerator for large models, with the Venice EPYC processors providing supporting CPU performance. Pensando DPUs are intended to handle networking and security tasks in the AI backend. Analysts expect hyperscaler deployments to be an important source of AI GPU revenue in the coming quarters. Some traders identified a sustained move above $532 as a technical level that could accelerate buying.