Satya Nadella helped transform Microsoft from a struggling software giant into a cloud powerhouse. Now, the 59-year-old CEO faces another major shift as the company tries to turn its early AI advantage into lasting growth. Microsoft invested in OpenAI early and built a major AI business through Azure, but rivals including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta have moved quickly, while Microsoft’s Copilot has yet to become a standard workplace tool.
Nadella is responding by changing both Microsoft’s products and its business model. The company is moving toward usage-based pricing for AI services, including Copilot Cowork, as customers increasingly pay according to how much computing they use. GitHub Copilot has already shown signs of success with the model, reaching 50 million users by July, up from 26 million the previous October.
The bigger challenge is making AI useful across the entire enterprise. Nadella wants customers to build their own “software factories,” while Microsoft develops tools that can handle more complex tasks and work across different AI models. His record gives investors reason to watch closely, but Microsoft now faces a faster-moving market where being early is no longer enough.
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