#microsoft

#microsoft

Expect this year to be filled with flux and uncertainty, thanks to lightning-fast changes wrought by AI, and by a Trump Administration that rules by whim and fiat rather than facts and law. So, I know it's something of a fool's game to make predictions about what the year ahead might bring for Microsoft. That said, I've never worried about being called a fool. So here are my five predictions for what Microsoft can expect in 2026.

President Trump says tech giants must pay their way when it comes to delivering increased power needed for datacenters, rather than the burden falling on US citizens, and it seems Microsoft is on board with that. Trump issued his latest edict via his Truth Social media platform, declaring: "I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers."

Microsoft is removing its Lens scanner app from iOS and Android in the coming months. Microsoft Lens, or Office Lens as it's known to most, will no longer be supported on February 9th and the app won't be functional after March 9th. The portable scanner features of Lens are available in OneDrive instead, making a dedicated app redundant for Microsoft.

When large companies require employees to end remote work and return to the office (RTO), the effects typically ripple through local economies and nearby small businesses. There can be more foot traffic and spending at restaurants, cafés, and coffee shops as office workers take lunch breaks or visit shopping districts before or after their shifts. Convenience stores, dry cleaners, food trucks, and gyms can also see an uptick, leading to improved weekday sales and a steadier cash flow.

Hyperscalers added $121 billion in new debt in 2025, more than four times the average annual issuance over the prior five years. Doubts even began to surface that Microsoft was having trouble selling AI products , with a report claiming lowered sales growth targets for certain tools, though Microsoft denied that was true. Analysts, though, are still apparently quite bullish on Microsoft, and it may be difficult for anyone to catch them.

Customers have shared that this limit creates significant operational challenges, especially given the limited capabilities of bulk sending offerings available today. Your feedback matters, and we're committed to solutions that balance security and usability without causing unnecessary disruption.

"digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence."

Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) gained 1.96% over the past five trading sessions after losing 0.03% the five prior. That brings MSFT's year-to-date gain to 16.59%, including a nearly 38% gain since its year -to-date low on April 8. When the Magnificent Seven member reported FY 2026 Q1 earnings on Oct. 29, 2025, shares fell despite beating on EPS and revenue. The company announced earnings of $3.72 per share versus analysts' expectations of $3.67, and quarterly revenue of $77.67 billion versus analysts' expectations of $75.33 billion.

However, unlike a normal Microsoft software release, the spawn of Wolfetone arrived ahead of schedule and, despite our reader professing delight at wearing "the second worst thing" in their wardrobe, the new arrival appears less than amused. "He seems to start crying when I attempt to hold him while wearing the jumper," Wolfetone told us. "Make of that what you will."

The wall-to-wall organizing effort at id Software was much needed; it's incredibly important that developers across the industry unite to push back on all the unilateral workplace changes that are being handed down from industry executives,

US tech giant Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will invest $17.5 billion (15 billion) in India over the next four years as it looks to strengthen the country's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Satya Nadella shared the news of Microsoft's largest-ever investment in Asia in a post on X after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Nadella said the multi-billion-dollar commitment is aimed at helping India develop the "infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities" essential for an AI-driven future. Nadella is currently on a three-day visit to India, meeting policymakers and participating in AI-related events in Bengaluru the nation's technology center and Mumbai, its financial capital.

I think Alphabet and Microsoft can top that figure by the end of 2026. Here's what my prediction would mean for shareholders: Alphabet is currently worth $3.8 trillion. The stock must increase 29% for the company to achieve a market value of $4.9 trillion. Microsoft is currently worth $3.6 trillion. The stock must increase 36% for the company to achieve a market value of $4.9 trillion.

Microsoft provides "major services" to other Israeli ground, air, and naval forces despite widespread agreement among experts that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to the legal aid groups. The letter lists multiple examples, including Mamram, the Israeli military's central computing system and "weapons platform" that assisted the assault on Gaza with AI support and cloud services. Microsoft provided "rapid support" to Mamram during the initial months of the genocide to keep systems from crashing, according to the letter.

Billionaire Peter Thiel runs the hedge fund Thiel Macro and is known for playing a significant role in identifying growth stocks. Based on the recent 13F filing, Thiel sold his entire stake in artificial intelligence (AI) giant NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and reinvested the proceeds in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). While not everyone will agree with the move to abandon NVIDIA Corp. the other AI giants, Microsoft and Apple, are well positioned to benefit from the AI revolution and have made significant gains in the past few years.

Alphabet is the parent company of Google, along with several other brands, like YouTube, the Android operating system, and Waymo. It's a fairly wide business, but when you boil it down, most of Alphabet's revenue comes from advertising. In Q3 2025, Alphabet's ad revenue totaled $74.2 billion, with total revenue coming in at $102.3 billion. When the economy and the consumer are fairly strong, advertising is a great business to be in.

The tech firm filed the complaint with the European Commission (EC) back in September 2024, accusing Microsoft of trying to lock customers into Azure by making it difficult and costly to shift workloads to rival clouds, such as those offered by Google and AWS. Google called for regulators to force Microsoft to allow customers to use their licenses for Windows Server on any cloud at no additional cost.

Microsoft describes Contoso as "a multinational business with its headquarters in Paris. The company is a manufacturing, sales, and support organization with more than 100,000 products." Whatever Contoso's needs, Microsoft's products are a perfect fit. Every project the company runs with Microsoft products and partners finishes on time, within budget, and delivers amazing return on investment. Contoso's configuration changed over the years to make it an ideal customer for whatever Microsoft was selling at the time.

Microsoft is pitching a future where AI controls everything on your PC and agents go and do work for you in the background. But before the company gets there, it has to build the tools to make these systems work and convince its own developers that AI is actually capable of achieving these big promises.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust - now called the Gates Foundation Trust after his ex-wife resigned from the organization - long maintained Microsoft as its largest holding , a legacy of Gates' ongoing stock gifts. One year ago, the holdings were valued at nearly $14 billion and represented one-third of the total. Yet in its third quarter 13F-HR filing, the Trust revealed it sold approximately 17 million shares, slashing its Microsoft position by nearly 65%.

In August, reports emerged that Microsoft had paused development on Contraband, a co-op smuggler game from Just Cause developer Avalanche. At the time, some sources noted that Microsoft put a "hold" on production rather than a full cancellation. But now, Contraband's fate appears to be sealed as mass layoffs at Avalanche have resulted in the closure of its Liverpool studio.

"That cartoon is a great example of someone else defining what became the cultural narrative more so than reality," Nadella told Stripe cofounder John Collison.

Over this past year, the nature of being a software engineer has really started to change,

In the race to build powerful artificial intelligence, has had its hands tied behind it back for years. Now, the software giant is free to compete, according to top executive Mustafa Suleyman. Suleyman recently unveiled a superintelligence team at Microsoft and he spoke with Business Insider about how this came about and the company's future plans. What's clear from the interview is that Microsoft will aggressively pursue artificial general intelligence, technology capable of outperforming humans in a wide variety of tasks.