<div id="readability-page-1"><div> <h2>Key Points</h2><ul><li>The agentic AI market presents a massive growth opportunity for companies' artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and software platforms.</li><li>Azure cloud, Foundry, and Fabric platforms position Microsoft across the entire technology stack required to build and deploy AI agents.</li><li>Microsoft is also witnessing rapid enterprise adoption of AI agents and agentic tools.</li><li>10 stocks we like better than Microsoft ›</li></ul>Artificial intelligence (AI) may soon move beyond chatbots into a new era of agentic AI, where autonomous software agents plan, reason, and execute complex tasks on behalf of other users. MarketsandMarkets estimates that the global AI agents market could grow from about $5.2 billion in 2024 to $52.6 billion in 2030, implying close to tenfold expansion this decade.<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-dXJsPWh0dHBzOi8vZy5mb29sY2RuLmNvbS9lZGl0b3JpYWwvaW1hZ2VzLzg1Njg5Ny9pbnZlc3RtZW50X2FuYWx5c3RzX3NtaWxpbmcuanBnJnc9NzAw?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="700" height="467" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-dXJsPWh0dHBzOi8vZy5mb29sY2RuLmNvbS9lZGl0b3JpYWwvaW1hZ2VzLzg1Njg5Ny9pbnZlc3RtZW50X2FuYWx5c3RzX3NtaWxpbmcuanBnJnc9NzAw"/>Image source: Getty Images.Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an &#34;Indispensable Monopoly&#34; providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » While all major companies are racing to deploy these agents across use cases in customer service, software development, and business operations, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) already appears to be ahead of the pack. Here's why.<h2>Infrastructure powering AI agents</h2>In its second-quarter fiscal 2026earnings call CEO Satya Nadella described Microsoft's AI strategy as resting on three layers: the cloud infrastructure that powers the AI models, the platform used to build AI agents, and the high-value applications where those agents are deployed. Hence, Microsoft is working to control every aspect of building and running AI agents.The foundation of this strategy is Microsoft's massive cloud infrastructure. In the second quarter, Microsoft Cloud segment revenues increased 26% year over year to $51.5 billion, while Azure and other cloud services (a part of Microsoft Cloud) grew 39% year over year. This infrastructure provides Microsoft with the computing power needed to train AI models and run large numbers of AI agents at scale.Microsoft is optimizing its cloud infrastructure to process more AI tasks using less computing power and energy. These efficiency improvements are important, as agentic AI can involve generating massive volumes of AI queries that require significant processing power.<h2>Platforms and applications for AI agents</h2>Beyond infrastructure, Microsoft has built platforms such as Azure AI Foundry, a service that helps enterprises build and deploy AI applications, and Microsoft Fabric, a unified data platform that organizes and analyses enterprise data. Through these platforms, companies can choose between multiple AI models, connect models to enterprise data, orchestrate external tools and workflows, and build, customize, and deploy AI applications and agents.Microsoft is witnessing robust adoption of these services. Fabric reached an annual revenue run rate of over $2 billion with over 31,000 customers, while the number of customers spending over $1 million quarterly on Foundry grew nearly 80% year over year at the end of the second quarter.Microsoft is also using agentic capabilities in high-value applications used by millions of workers and developers. Products such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot allow users to deploy AI agents directly inside familiar tools for writing documents, analyzing data, generating code, and automating workflows. The company exited the second quarter with 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, while GitHub Copilot had 4.7 million paid subscribers.<h2>Accelerating enterprise adoption</h2>Large organizations are increasingly adopting Microsoft's agentic tools. Over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies have built agents using Copilot Studio and Agent Builder, the company's low-code tools for creating and deploying AI agents. Enterprises are also deploying Copilot at a large scale, with the number of customers using over 35,000 Copilot seats tripling year over year at the end of the second quarter. Hence, AI assistants are also moving beyond pilot programs and being integrated into enterprise technology stacks.As companies deploy more agents through Copilot and other tools, demand for Azure computing capacity, Azure AI Foundry, and Fabric also rises. Hence, increasing adoption of agentic AI can be a solid positive for Microsoft's entire cloud ecosystem.<h2>Strong fundamentals support an agentic AI opportunity</h2>Microsoft is one of the largest, most profitable technology companies in the world. In the second quarter, the company's revenues increased 17% year over year to $81.3 billion, while earnings per share rose 24% year over year to $4.14. Operating income also increased 21% year over year to $38.3 billion, highlighting the strong profitability of the company's core business.The company also exited the second quarter with nearly $89.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Hence, the company has significant financial flexibility to invest in AI-related growth initiatives.Despite these strengths, Microsoft is currently trading at 25.7 times earnings, significantly below its historical three-year average price-to-earnings ratio of 33.7x. The company trades at a far more reasonable valuation than many smaller AI companies that are still unprofitable.If the agentic AI market continues to grow at the expected pace, Microsoft's strength across infrastructure, platforms, and applications makes it a significant beneficiary of this opportunity. Hence, Microsoft appears to be an attractive stock for investors looking to gain exposure to the rapidly growing agentic AI market.<h2>Should you buy stock in Microsoft right now?</h2> Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $534,008!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,073!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 949% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 190% for the S&amp;P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 9, 2026. Manali Pradhan, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. </div></div>

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The agentic AI market is projected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $52.6 billion by 2030, presenting significant opportunities for companies like Microsoft. Microsoft is leveraging its Azure cloud, Foundry, and Fabric platforms to lead in AI infrastructure and software. The company reported a 26% increase in cloud revenues, with strong adoption of its AI tools among Fortune 500 companies. Despite trading below its historical P/E ratio, Microsoft's robust financials and strategic positioning in the agentic AI space suggest a promising outlook for growth.

The Agentic AI Market Could Grow 10X by 2030. This Stock Is Leading the Charge.