AWS and Microsoft plan to place thousands of their engineers inside client firms to assist with artificial intelligence adoption, as these tools have not yet generated clear profits for businesses.
Microsoft revealed on Thursday a new division named Microsoft Frontier Company. It receives $2.5 billion in funding and combines 6,000 specialists and engineers.
This move follows a similar announcement by AWS, the top cloud provider, which on Tuesday unveiled a $1 billion program called Forward Deployed Engineering. It will also send thousands of engineers to support customers.
Both companies face the same issue: firms are purchasing more AI solutions, yet these purchases show limited visible returns.
By late 2025, nearly 90 percent of companies had introduced AI into at least one operation, but 94 percent saw no major gains from the spending, according to McKinsey research released in late April. The study noted that simply providing AI tools falls short and that firms must redesign their workflows.
Microsoft and AWS, which provide servers and software to many global businesses, believe their engineers can achieve faster and stronger outcomes than internal client teams.
“Speed is the main topic customers discuss now,” said Francessca Vasquez, vice president of Frontier AI Engineering and Services at AWS.
Sri Elaprolu, director of AWS’s GenAI Innovation Center, stressed avoiding a technology-first approach.
“Excitement about agentic AI does not mean it fits every case,” he said at the AWS Summit in Washington. “The incorrect method pushes technology onto a problem instead of defining the proper steps first.”
With these efforts, Microsoft and AWS follow San Francisco AI labs. OpenAI and Anthropic began sending engineer teams to client locations this spring in partnership with investment funds. This approach echoes methods used over ten years ago by Palantir.
Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft Commercial Business, said the unit draws from current experts, product engineers, consulting groups, and new external hires focused on large language models.
The initiatives occur as tech firms aim to recover large spending on AI development and data centers. Microsoft reported cloud growth but its shares dropped nearly 25 percent since January. The company reduced about 15,000 positions in 2025, with more cuts expected.
