Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares are rising Thursday. The company announced a new AI partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN this week, and broader strength across software stocks is adding to the momentum.
- Microsoft shares are advancing steadily. Why is MSFT stock advancing?
Microsoft, HUMAIN Announce Long-Term AI Partnership
Microsoft revealed Wednesday that it’s joining forces with HUMAIN, an AI company backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, in an effort to bring AI tools into wider use among businesses across the kingdom and elsewhere. Right out of the gate, the alliance connects HUMAIN’s Arabic-language ALLAM models to Microsoft’s Foundry platform and 365 Copilot, giving companies a way to spin up AI applications built specifically around Arabic speakers.
Both sides described this as just an opening move, with more collaboration planned across other models, software tools, hardware and infrastructure down the line.
To get customers using AI in real operations rather than just testing it, HUMAIN’s technical staff will pair up with Microsoft’s own deployment specialists. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, described the arrangement as bringing together Microsoft’s underlying AI systems with HUMAIN’s command of Arabic-language technology, built to satisfy the stricter security and compliance demands that large companies and governments tend to require.
Moonshot In Talks With Microsoft On Revenue Sharing
In a separate development, Reuters reported that Chinese startup Moonshot is in talks with Microsoft, Amazon and Google over deals that would put its Kimi K3 model on their respective cloud services in exchange for a cut of the resulting revenue, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. Should the talks pan out, it would be a rare instance of a Chinese AI company striking this kind of financial arrangement with a major American cloud operator.
Moonshot is said to be pushing for close to 30% of whatever revenue K3 generates, though the negotiations haven’t progressed far, with sticking points still lingering over how to split proceeds, who gets access to what data and how usage would even get measured. None of the parties involved would comment.
Independent testing has been kind to K3, with Arena.ai crowning it the top performer in a web-interface benchmark and Artificial Analysis finding it holds its own against leading American models on demanding, multi-step problems.
Broader Software Strength Follows Salesforce’s Strong Quarter
Adding to Microsoft’s move, software stocks are broadly catching a bid after Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) blew past Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets and raised its own forecast.
CEO Marc Benioff highlighted a four-year high in new order growth, usage of the company’s Agentforce product multiplying sixfold and Slack bookings surging by triple digits, all while unveiling a fresh tie-up with Anthropic-linked Claudeforce.
Investors appear to be extending that optimism into technology names more broadly, including Microsoft.
MSFT Shares Are Trending Higher
MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were up 1.05% at $501.49 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
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