Microsoft Launches New Frontier Company to Speed Up Entreprise AI Adoption

Microsoft yesterday announced the creation of a new subsidiary dedicated to accelerating enterprise AI adoption. The new Microsoft Frontier Company will focus entirely on what the company calls “end-to-end Fontier transformation,” and it will also receive a $2.5 billion investment from Microsoft.

“It will provide a unique combination of skills inclusive of deep industry knowledge, change management and continuous improvement experience, and enterprise-grade AI engineering expertise,” said Judson Althoff, CEO, Microsoft Commercial Business, about this new Microsoft Frontier subsdiary. “This goes beyond what has been labeled as Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) and will be the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry.

This new subsidiary focused on enterprise AI adoption will be led by Rodrigo Kede Lima, who previously led Microsoft’s business across Asia. Microsoft Frontier will have a workforce of 6,000 industry and engineering experts who will work with partners such as Accenture, Capgemini, EY, KPMG, PwC, and others to help companies achieve “Frontier Transformation” through an AI platform that supports models from different vendors. Microsoft also promises not to use its customers’ data “to train models in ways that commoditize what differentiates them in their industry.”

Using a formula that may sound quite awkward ahead of a possible brutal round of layoffs, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that “The future of the firm is a learning loop in which human capital and token capital compound.” The exec added that “with our new Frontier Co., our ambition is to help every enterprise build its own AI capability, and to help create a frontier ecosystem where every organization can turn its knowledge, workflows, and judgment into its own AI systems that continuously improve.”