Today at NVIDIA GTC, Microsoft and NVIDIA announced the world’s most powerful and efficient thin-and-light Windows PCs ever. Accelerated by NVIDIA RTX Spark, these new PCs unlock incredible momentum for developers, creators and power users, and are purpose-built for the new wave of agents. This marks a key milestone in the rich, full‑stack collaboration between Microsoft and NVIDIA spanning gaming, AI and cloud – from DirectX and RTX to NVIDIA‑accelerated AI workloads on Azure – driving end-to-end innovation for our shared customers. These next-generation Windows PCs represent the next step on that journey. Builders and creators today are reimagining how things get done, and they need reimagined hardware, silicon and platform capabilities to support them. They need PCs capable of running graphically intensive tasks efficiently, highly capable AI models, and a platform that simply and securely runs agents locally. It’s the combination of Windows’ platform and ecosystem leadership, with NVIDIA's silicon innovation and industry-leading graphics and AI leadership, that has resulted in a collection of powerhouse laptops that will redefine how developers and creators interact with their PCs.

“NVIDIA and Microsoft share a vision that agents are the future of personal computing,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of personal computing at NVIDIA. “RTX Spark combines NVIDIA's full technology stack with Microsoft Windows and is purpose-built for creators, gamers and AI developers in the personal AI era.”

Taking Windows to the next level on RTX Spark

RTX Spark delivers 1 petaflop of AI performance, industry-leading performance-per-watt, full stack NVIDIA AI and RTX graphics technology, with up to 6144 Blackwell RTX cores, up to 20 power-efficient cores built with the Arm architecture and up to 128GB of unified memory. Paired with Windows, it unlocks the capabilities creators and developers need to run advanced workloads, build with the tools they depend on and even play their favorite games. Bringing Windows to RTX Spark enables you to do the work that matters on silicon that delivers the performance you demand. Great silicon deserves deep platform work. We optimized Windows to bring out the full performance of RTX Spark.

Performance and power management

To get the most out of Windows on RTX Spark’s powerful, heterogeneous architecture, we implemented workload profile scheduling (WPS) and optimized it for RTX Spark, enabling the Windows scheduler to more efficiently scale workloads across all 20 cores. Whether you’re checking your email or running an agent locally to debug code, the Windows scheduler on RTX Spark will ensure you get the best performance and efficiency out of your CPU. We also worked with NVIDIA to enable the Microsoft Power and Thermal Framework (MPTF) on RTX Spark, to maximize performance and power on the go. MPTF standardizes one of the most complex parts of a modern PC and will enable RTX Spark based PCs to deliver industry-leading power efficiency while staying cool under intense workloads. Beyond its industry-leading performance per watt for creative, AI and gaming workloads, RTX Spark is positioned to take advantage of our advancements to DirectX 12, including support for neural rendering and optimized ray tracing performance, and has been tuned to maximize the performance of its Blackwell GPU, making it one of the best places to play on Windows. In addition, Microsoft and NVIDIA have worked to unlock the power of the GPU for local AI workloads through Windows ML, enabling AI developers to leverage TensorRT natively in Windows.

Unified memory optimizations

To realize the potential of up to 128GB of unified memory on RTX Spark, we have focused on improving how Windows supports unified memory systems, starting with a new higher, smarter limit on total system memory accessible by the GPU. This updated limit increases the memory available to the GPU on high-memory systems, unlocking the ability to load larger local AI models or render more complex projects. Memory intensive workloads across powerful creator apps, AI workloads and games put a variety of demands on the system and require a versatile memory system to achieve peak performance.  In addition to increasing the memory available to the GPU, we are also enhancing how Windows manages page sizes in shared memory regions on unified memory systems.  These changes ensure that larger memory pages are available for greater performance on heavier workloads, while giving developers the flexibility to optimize for the needs of their memory workloads between CPU and GPU.

Prism emulation enhancements

Prism, our emulator for running 32-bit and 64-bit x86 apps on Windows on Arm, will also be present and optimized for RTX Spark powered PCs.  Prism ensures apps run well on these devices even if those apps haven't been built for the Arm architecture. We have continued to enhance the Prism emulator with additional performance and compatibility features, building on the Prism optimizations delivered last year that added support for the AVX/AVX2 instruction set extensions. Prism has been tuned for the microarchitecture of RTX Spark and when combined with the raw power of the silicon, unlocks great performance for developers, creators and gaming workloads running under emulation.

Windows quality investments

This year, we've been laser focused on raising the bar on performance, reliability and craft across Windows 11. As the Windows foundation strengthens, we are also pushing forward on this next era of Windows computing and delivering meaningful improvements to system performance that will benefit all Windows 11 PCs including these new PCs powered by RTX Spark. This includes changes like more fluid and responsive app interactions by moving many core Windows experiences to the WinUI3 framework and elevating the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) experience, along with baseline reliability improvements across the operating system and more control and personalization, including alternate taskbar positions. These quality-focused updates will continue to roll out throughout the year.

Delivering a better platform for agents with Windows on RTX Spark

This week at Microsoft Build, you will see how we are optimizing the Windows platform for building and running agents securely with OS-enforced identity, containment and manageability. With a powerful GPU and up to 128 GB of unified memory, RTX Spark will be great hardware to build and run agentic workloads locally, with security and containment features designed to help protect users. NVIDIA is bringing NVIDIA OpenShell to Windows, built on new Windows security and containment primitives. Hermes Agent and OpenClaw will be integrating OpenShell and these new Windows primitives inside of their Windows application. This enables customers to run agents and integrate them into developer and creative workflows, with the performance headroom to reason over large contexts without round-tripping to the cloud. Control is a fundamental principle for AI on Windows. You choose when and how agents act on your behalf, with controls to help provide visibility into what they can access.

Enabling the Windows ecosystem for RTX Spark

From the app developers optimizing their software for this architecture, to our OEM partners building these new powerful PCs, the Windows ecosystem has come together to ensure RTX Spark delivers a complete, performant experience from day one.

App ecosystem growth

Silicon and OS optimization matters, but what you can actually run on the device is what customers experience. We have partnered across the ecosystem to ensure these new PCs powered by RTX Spark will launch with broad application support. Over the last two years, Microsoft and NVIDIA have worked with a breadth of app developers to make significant advancements to optimize the apps people want and rely on for Arm-based devices. As a result, PC users on RTX Spark will immediately benefit from an expansive ecosystem of native and performant apps. For creatives, top tools like Blender, DaVinci Resolve, Maxon Cinema4D, Maxon Redshift, Topaz Photo, CapCut, Cubase, Bitwig Studio, Affinity by Canva and more all run natively on Arm today, as do the audio, video, MIDI and control peripherals they require. Adobe’s flagship applications including Photoshop and Premiere are likewise native, and have partnered with NVIDIA and Microsoft on additional optimizations for the RTX Spark. Apps for technical creators are also optimizing for this platform, including MATLAB, one of the most popular, which now officially supports Windows on Arm via Prism. Across apps, RTX SPARK can unlock new capabilities and speed for workflows like video compositing, rendering complex 3D geometries, or using the latest AI-driven tools for content analysis and transformation. Game developers have also laid a strong foundation for RTX Spark’s arrival. Today, anti-cheat solutions from partners like Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye, expanded Prism emulator compatibility, and XBOX PC app support means players will have access to a deep catalog of Windows PC games. RTX Spark will bring even higher levels of gaming performance to AAA titles on Arm. Riot Games, one of the world’s leading game developers and publishers, has confirmed that League of Legends and VALORANT are coming to the platform. PUBG: Battlegrounds, the iconic battle royale title from KRAFTON, will also be joining the expansive catalog of compatible titles including PRAGMATA, Alan Wake 2, Naraka: Bladepoint, War Thunder and more. Top agentic and AI developer workloads like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, ComfyUI, Cursor and more now run across all modern PC silicon – making Windows the ideal platform for AI-assisted development, or for leveraging the power of the GPU to train, optimize and evaluate models. For developers, our partnership with NVIDIA on RTX Spark plans to bring additional exciting technologies like CUDA-accelerated PyTorch, Ilama.cpp, TensorRT, Hugging Face frameworks, Unsloth, Kohya and more.

PC ecosystem adoption

Windows and RTX Spark bring to life the most powerful and efficient thin-and-light PCs with all-day battery life¹, optimized for developers and creators who need to trust that they can power through advanced workflows, in a portable package. These PCs will join the Copilot+ PC category, with powerful NPUs for local AI processing in addition to the GPU, unlocking rich AI-powered experiences. Beginning this Fall, RTX Spark will power a full range of Windows laptops and small form factor desktop PCs, starting with Microsoft Surface, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and MSI.

Introducing Surface Laptop Ultra

Surface Laptop Ultra. Built for world makers and creative pros, Surface Laptop Ultra brings cutting-edge AI performance into a thin, precision-engineered laptop designed for sustained high performance. From rendering to compiling to local AI workflows, this is uncompromising craft meets raw power – a new kind of performance for the people who create what's next. To learn more, visit the Devices blog by Brett Ostrum, Corporate Vice President, Surface. We are also proud to support the announcements of our PC partners:

• ASUS: The ASUS ProArt P16 and ASUS ProArt P14 combine powerful AI performance with slim and lightweight designs built for creators on the go. Available in 16-inch and 14-inch models with elegant Nano Black and new Neo White color options, the laptops feature ASUS Lumina Pro OLED displays and exceptional all-day battery life for premium creative experiences anywhere.
• Dell Technologies: The XPS 16 Creator Edition delivers serious GPU power built for creative work with smoother playback on 4K timelines, faster exports and a more seamless experience with AI tools. The Tandem OLED display with True Black HDR 600 ensures your visuals look exactly as intended. Add in a built-in SD card reader and HDMI port, and you've got a machine that's as capable in the field as it is back at your desk.
• HP Inc.: The HP OmniBook Ultra 16and HP OmniBook X 14 laptops are built for creators, gamers and AI developers, providing powerful local AI performance and experiences that help users accelerate workflows.
• Lenovo: The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9n marries Lenovo Yoga's creator-focused features with NVIDIA's newest chip to deliver a laptop that is portable, powerful and can last for extended periods away from an outlet.
• MSI: The Prestige N16 Flip AI+ combines a premium thin-and-light 2-in-1 design, a 16-inch UHD+ Tandem OLED display, NVIDIA AI acceleration and a 99.9Wh battery. It delivers immersive visuals, advanced AI experiences, and exceptional mobility for creators, professionals and gamers.

We can't wait for developers and creators to experience what's possible when stunning graphics, incredible performance and cutting-edge AI come together in these powerful, portable PCs.

Scaling the power of Windows to NVIDIA DGX Station

Today's announcement is an important step on our journey to unleash the full power of Windows to NVIDIA silicon, from powerful laptops to data center class workstations. Together with NVIDIA, we’re scaling Windows from RTX Spark through to DGX Station for Windows, up to a trillion-parameter AI supercomputer powered by the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip, later this year. This unlocks breakthrough AI performance on Windows, the platform enterprises trust for manageability, security and compatibility, with seamless access to the Linux AI ecosystem through Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). With NVIDIA GB300‑class capability on Windows, we are making a step‑function leap in performance, fundamentally changing where advanced AI work can happen – enabling developers and organizations to run frontier‑class models and agentic workloads locally that were previously primarily available in the cloud or data centers. Pairing the GB300 Superchip with an additional NVIDIA RTX PRO™ Blackwell Workstation GPU enables developers to combine frontier AI compute with ray-traced visualization and simulation in a single deskside system — delivering the performance needed for agents to perceive, simulate and interact with the physical world. By bringing AI on‑device, organizations can keep data close and shape how it’s used to meet their own compliance and data boundary requirements, complementing cloud workloads. This shift opens new possibilities, lowers the barrier to experimentation, and makes unmetered, always‑available AI compute a native part of Windows workflows. We are building toward a future where Windows provides a unified foundation for AI, from the device in your hands to the infrastructure behind it. Stay tuned over the next couple of days. We look forward to sharing more on our vision of Windows for developers at Microsoft Build. ^{1 Based on internal testing of pre‑release units. Battery life varies significantly based on usage, settings and other factors.} 

As digital sovereignty becomes a strategic requirement, organizations are rethinking how they deploy critical infrastructure and AI capabilities under tighter regulatory expectations and higher risk conditions. Microsoft’s approach to sovereignty is grounded in enabling enterprises, public sectors and regulated industries to participate in the digital economy securely, independently and on their own terms. The Microsoft Sovereign Cloud brings together productivity, security and cloud workloads to span both public and private environments. Customers can choose the right control posture for each workload, through a continuum of sovereign options protecting against fragmenting their architecture or increasing operational risk. Trust is built on confidence: confidence that data stays protected, controls are enforceable and operations can continue under real-world conditions.  

To support these confidential environments, Microsoft offers full stack capabilities that support customers across connected, intermittently connected and fully disconnected modes. Today’s expansion of capabilities includes three major updates:

• Azure Local disconnected operations (now available) – Organizations can now run mission-critical infrastructure with Azure governance and policy control, with no cloud connectivity, optimizing continuity for sovereign, classified or isolated environments. 

• Microsoft 365 Local disconnected (now available) – Core productivity workloads, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business Server can run fully inside the customer’s sovereign operational boundary on Azure Local, keeping teams productive even when disconnected from the cloud. 

• Foundry Local adds modern infrastructure capabilities and support for large AI models – Organizations can now bring large AI models into fully disconnected, sovereign environments with Foundry Local. Using modern infrastructure from partners like NVIDIA, customers with sovereign needs will now be able to run multimodal models locally on their own hardware, inside strict sovereign boundaries enabling powerful, local AI inferencing in fully disconnected environments. 

This delivers a truly localized full stack experience built on Azure Local infrastructure and Microsoft 365 Local workloads, designed to stay resilient across any connectivity condition, with large models being part of Foundry Local extending the stack to run advanced multimodal models locally, securely, even when fully disconnected. Customers can now help maintain uninterrupted operations, keep mission critical workloads protected and apply consistent governance and policy enforcement, while keeping data, identities and operations within their sovereign boundaries.

Azure Local runs critical infrastructure locally, even when disconnected 

For workloads with specialized requirements, Azure Local provides the on-premises foundation with consistent Azure governance and policy controls. With Azure Local disconnected operations, management, policy and workload execution stay within the customer-operated environments, so services continue running securely even when environments must be isolated or connectivity is not available. Using familiar Azure experiences and consistent policies, organizations can deploy and govern workloads locally without depending on continuous connection to public cloud services. Azure Local is designed to scale with mission-critical needs from smaller deployments to larger footprints that support data-intensive and AI-driven workloads. Customers can start fast, expand over time and maintain a unified operational model, all within their sovereign boundary.

Operating in disconnected environments surfaces constraints that go beyond traditional cloud assumptions: External dependencies may be unacceptable, connectivity may be intentionally restricted and operational continuity is a business imperative. 

“The availability of Azure Local disconnected operations represents a breakthrough for organizations that need control over their data without sacrificing the power of the Microsoft Cloud. For Luxembourg, where digital sovereignty is not just a principle but a strategic necessity, this model offers the resilience, autonomy and trust our market expects. By combining Microsoft’s technological leadership with Proximus NXT’s sovereign cloud expertise, we are enabling our customers to innovate confidently — even in fully disconnected mode,” said Gerard Hoffmann, CEO Proximus Luxembourg. 

Microsoft 365 Local keeps productivity and collaboration available in fully disconnected environments 

As sovereign environments move into disconnected environments, keeping people productive becomes just as critical as keeping infrastructure online. Building on more than a decade of delivering and supporting these services, Microsoft 365 Local disconnected brings that continuity to the productivity layer, delivering Microsoft’s core server workloads — Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business Server supported through at least 2035 — directly into the customer’s sovereign private cloud.  

With Microsoft 365 Local, teams can communicate, share information and collaborate securely within the same controlled boundary as their infrastructure and AI workloads. Everything runs locally, under customer-owned policies, with full control of data resiliency, access and compliance. By operating with Azure-consistent management and governance, customers get the productivity experience they rely on, designed to stay resilient and secure even when offline. 

Bringing large models and modern infrastructure to Foundry Local 

With the availability of larger models and modern infrastructure as part of the Foundry Local portfolio, Microsoft is enabling customers with highly secure environments the ability to run multimodal, large models directly inside their sovereign private cloud environments. This brings the richness of Microsoft’s enterprise AI capabilities to on-premises systems, complete with local inferencing and APIs that operate completely within customer-controlled data boundaries.  

Expanding beyond small models, the integration of Foundry Local with Azure Local is specifically designed to support large-scale models utilizing the latest GPUs from partners such as NVIDIA. Microsoft will provide comprehensive support for deployments, updates and operational health. Even as inferencing demands increase over time, customers retain complete control over their data and hardware.  

Choice and control without added complexity 

Customers facing strict sovereignty and regulatory requirements are clear that a fully disconnected sovereign private cloud is a key business need. Microsoft Sovereign Private Cloud is designed to meet these needs head-on, enabling secure, compliant operations even in environments with no external connectivity. At the same time, we recognize that disconnected environments are not one-size-fits-all; some customers operate across connected, hybrid and disconnected modes based on mission, risk and regulation. Our approach helps customers to meet strict sovereign requirements in fully disconnected scenarios without compromising simplicity, while retaining flexibility where connectivity is possible. Together, Azure Local disconnected operations, Microsoft 365 Local and Foundry Local help organizations choose where workloads run and how environments are managed, while standardizing governance and operational practices across connected and disconnected deployments. 

Get started 

• Azure Local disconnected operations and Microsoft 365 Local disconnected are now available worldwide, and large models on Foundry Local are available to qualified customers. 

• Explore the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud  

• Learn more about Azure Local disconnected operations 

Douglas Phillips leads global engineering efforts for Microsoft’s specialized, sovereign, and private clouds. He is responsible for Microsoft’s global strategy, products and operations that bring Microsoft’s industry-leading solutions, including Azure, our adaptive cloud portfolio and Microsoft 365 collaboration suite, to customers with additional sovereignty, security, edge and compliance requirements. 

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In 2020, Microsoft announced a moonshot commitment to become carbon negative by 2030 — accelerating work across our company to advance the partnerships and technologies needed to advance sustainability for our businesses, our customers and the world. A key milestone on this journey was our aim to match 100% of our annual global electricity consumption with renewable energy(1) by 2025. Today, we are pleased to share that Microsoft has achieved this milestone(2). This progress helps drive investment into the power systems where we operate, expand clean energy supply and advance broader energy innovation.

Over a decade of investment: 40 gigawatts of new renewable energy contracted

What began in 2013 with a single 110 megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) in Texas — a small first step to demonstrate how corporate procurement could scale clean energy(3) — has evolved into one of the largest clean energy portfolios in the world. This first deal not only supported Microsoft’s early cloud services but also set in motion a decade of commercial partnerships and learning-by-doing that served to demonstrate how corporate demand for advanced energy solutions can help to achieve a more affordable and sustainable power system, while supporting reliability for customers.

Since our carbon negative announcement in 2020, we have contracted 40 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy supply across 26 countries, working with more than 95 utilities and developers across 400+ contracts and counting. To put that amount in perspective — that’s enough energy to power about 10 million US homes. Of that contracted volume, 19 GW are now online, delivering new clean energy supply to the power grid, while the remainder are slated to come online over the next five years.

Our new renewable energy procurement continues to deliver significant environmental benefits, including the reduction of Microsoft’s reported Scope 2 carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 25 million tons(4) and the mobilization of billions of dollars’ worth of private investment in regions where we operate.

Catalyzing market investment through bankable, repeatable models

Microsoft is among the early pioneers in developing technical and commercial practices that help advance bankable, repeatable and scalable procurement tools suitable for each market. Our clean energy purchasing navigates a global patchwork of power market designs, requiring creativity in how we balance cost, time to market and project sizing in our portfolio across planning, contracting and management.

Our work has benefited from a broad coalition of partners helping to build this market together. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, more than 200 global corporations collectively purchased nearly 200 GW of clean energy around the world since 2008. Working alongside other clean energy buyers — as well as hundreds of utilities, manufacturers, financiers, developers and engineers — we have helped reduce transaction costs, expand developer access to financing and streamline procurement approaches that other buyers can adopt.

This global flywheel of partnership, investment, technology and policy innovation is expected to continue to facilitate billions of dollars’ worth of investment into infrastructure and jobs. And as we’ve seen repeatedly, when Microsoft sends a clear market signal for world-class, first-of-a-kind technologies and infrastructure, the power sector rises to the challenge. Our procurement over the past decade has demonstrated that partnerships, communities and innovation are essential ingredients that help to accelerate first-of-a-kind technologies and infrastructure at scale.

Scaling partnerships to scale infrastructure

Critical to Microsoft’s success in expanding digital infrastructure and supporting our local communities is our ability to build trusted partnerships with the over 95 global energy suppliers that support our clean energy portfolio. We have sourced clean energy through multiple requests for proposal or information, bilateral engagements and clean tariffs to evaluate over 5,000 unique carbon-free energy projects around the world.

Today, Microsoft has six energy company partners with which we have over 1 GW of contracted renewable energy capacity, and more than 20 energy supplier partners where each partner has at least five separate renewable energy projects with Microsoft — evidence of the durable, repeatable relationships necessary to scale clean energy. Combining scale with speed, Microsoft’s landmark 10.5 GW framework agreement with Brookfield sends a long-term, 2030 demand signal to the market that enables developers to raise funding more efficiently, bolster supply chains, hire engineers and construct world-class energy infrastructure.

Putting communities first

Our renewable energy procurement has mobilized billions of dollars in private investment, supported thousands of jobs across the communities where we operate and delivered meaningful co-benefits. Through partnerships with developers and nonprofit organizations, we’ve worked to embed community-driven benefits into our energy portfolio. These benefits include robust infrastructure, economic inclusion and support for community-focused organizations.

Our support for communities shows up in projects like our 500 MW PPA with Sol Systems, or our 250 MW PPA with Volt Energy Utility that provided local training and jobs, as well as grants to community nonprofit organizations and habitat restoration. We’ve also signed over 1.5 GW of distributed solar, bringing clean energy directly into hundreds of communities around the world. Landmark agreements like our 500 MW offtake with Pivot Energy, or our 270 MW offtake with PowerTrust are expected to foster employment, energy cost savings and grid resilience in communities across the United States, Mexico and Brazil. More details on the above examples and our approach to community benefits in clean energy agreements can be found in a dedicated Microsoft whitepaper.

Innovation unlocks new markets and pathways

Microsoft’s clean energy procurement continues to play an important role in catalyzing technical, commercial and regulatory innovation. Our commercial efforts have helped lower barriers to entry into new markets and expand access into multi-technology contracts that accelerate decarbonization.

In Japan, Microsoft signed one of the first corporate PPAs in the country’s restructured power market. Our 25 MW, 20-year agreement with Shizen represents the first single-asset virtual PPA executed in the country, which helped pave the way to over 2GWs of corporate procurement since 2024, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Alongside opening new markets, we have structured several multi-technology offtakes in nascent markets for corporate procurement. In India, Microsoft purchased a combined 437 MW solar/wind hybrid offtake from Renew, where our projects will support energy access and rural electrification. In Microsoft’s home state of Washington, our datacenters in Douglas County are supplied by 100% carbon-free energy, as we leverage a creative blend of new wind power and hydropower storage to deliver around-the-clock clean energy.

Looking forward to 2030 and beyond

In 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) described a new “Age of Electricity,” marked by accelerating electricity demand from electric vehicles, air conditioners, data centers and heat pumps. As the world electrifies more of the economy, the demand for affordable, reliable and clean electricity will continue to rise.

Our experience building Microsoft’s clean energy portfolio both reflects and furthers global trends. According to IEA data, since 2000, renewable energy generation has expanded nearly four-fold. In many power markets across the world, clean energy is one of the fast-growing sources of generation, and often the one with the fastest time-to-market. Corporate buyers like Microsoft continue to serve as an important catalyst in driving commercial demand for innovation and infrastructure across the power industry.

As we continue our journey toward becoming carbon negative by 2030, Microsoft will continue to push for an expansive focus on adding all forms of carbon-free electricity solutions, complementing and adding to our portfolio of renewable energy resources. We recognize that the world’s rising electricity needs require a balanced, all-of-the-above decarbonization strategy to meet global economic growth and environmental goals, and our sustainability goals will continue to support this approach moving forward. Such a strategy requires a broader set of carbon-free energy and grid-enabling technologies, including nuclear energy, next-generation grid infrastructure and carbon capture technology. Just as renewable energy was a relatively small part of global energy grids in 2013 when we signed our first PPA, today many advanced energy technologies remain early in their development but offer significant promise to accelerate progress towards an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy future.

Microsoft has already taken early steps to support the advancement of a broader set of carbon-free energy technologies as we partner with Helion and Constellation Energy on a 50 MW fusion project in Washington state and work with Constellation to restart the 835 MW Crane Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania. Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund has allocated $806 million of capital to 67 investees, with 38% directed toward Energy Systems — advancing carbon-free power and fuels, energy storage and energy management solutions.

We welcome continued collaboration with our power sector partners to bring these innovations to market and incorporate new technology tools in the process to accelerate their development.

We will continue to build and leverage new AI-driven tools to design, permit and deploy new power technologies that help expand and more efficiently operate the electricity grid, bringing more clean energy online faster. This work is exemplified by our recently announced collaborations with Idaho National Laboratory and the Midcontinental System Operator, among other examples.

And as we advance innovative energy technologies, we recognize that standards must evolve alongside innovation. That is why we will continue participating in industry forums that strengthen carbon accounting frameworks — so that our clean energy procurement is measured with greater accuracy and delivers real world emissions reductions, with a continued focus on maintaining the high level of integrity that the world has come to expect from Microsoft.

Our carbon negative commitment remains a call to action — for Microsoft, our customers and the broader technology sector — to invest in an affordable, reliable and sustainable power system. As we look toward 2030, that call to action has never been clearer.

Gratitude — and momentum for the work ahead

Today’s milestone represents a shared achievement among the utility professionals, clean energy developers, community leaders, technology innovators and forward-thinking policymakers who continue the deployment of renewable energy. Meeting today’s milestone shows what partnership can deliver in bringing big ideas to life. The future of carbon-free energy is one that we will create – together.

As Microsoft’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Melanie Nakagawa leads the company’s targets to be carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030. She brings deep experience at the intersection of policy, business, and technology to advance climate and sustainability solutions globally.

As President of Cloud Operations + Innovation at Microsoft, Noelle Walsh leads the organization that powers the global Microsoft Cloud. She oversees the company’s physical cloud infrastructure and operations, with a charter focused on safety, security, availability, sustainability, and competitive infrastructure growth — bringing decades of global operational leadership.

Footnotes

1. Renewable energy is defined within Microsoft’s fact sheet https://aka.ms/SustainabilityFactsheet2025, which represents FY24 data.
2. To date, Microsoft’s renewable energy target includes two primary categories: renewable energy from contracted projects and grid mix. The first is renewable energy delivered under PPAs or similar long-term contracting mechanisms, generally for new projects where our financial involvement in the project’s development is critical for its success. This category represents more than 90% of the renewable energy applied to achieve our 2025 target. The second category is “grid mix” — renewable energy supported via our standard utility relationships and rates, inclusive of policy programs such as renewable portfolio standards and state and utility decarbonization goals. Our 2025 100% renewable target does not include purchases from short-term, so-called “spot market” renewable energy credits (RECs) sourced from operational clean energy projects. With the above in mind, Microsoft leverages a straightforward formula to determine our 100% renewable energy metric on a global, annual basis. We update and further detail the methodology and assumptions behind this formula in our annual sustainability reports:
3. Clean energy — also referred to in this blog as carbon free energy — is defined within Microsoft’s fact sheet https://aka.ms/SustainabilityFactsheet2025, which represents FY24 data.
4. Reduction of reported Scope 2 emissions are calculated between FY20-25, the cumulative difference between location based and market-based emissions, excluding the use of short-term, so-called “spot market” RECs.

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