NEW YORK, January 8, 2026, 09:44 EST — Regular session
- Microsoft shares rose about 1% after Fiserv announced a deeper AI collaboration using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Foundry on Azure
- The deal adds to a run of enterprise AI rollouts investors are tracking ahead of Microsoft’s Jan. 28 earnings
- A separate OpenAI-related lawsuit set for trial in March remains a headline risk for Microsoft’s AI stack
Microsoft Corp shares rose $5.02, or about 1.0%, to $483.47 on Thursday after payments technology firm Fiserv said it will deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot across its workforce and expand its use of Microsoft Foundry, an Azure-powered platform for building and running AI applications. “We’re transforming how Fiserv delivers the next generation of innovation for our clients,” Guy Chiarello, Fiserv’s vice chairman, said. 1
The timing matters because Microsoft’s big pitch to investors is that enterprise customers will pay up for “Copilot” tools — generative AI features stitched into Office apps and developer workflows — even as the company spends heavily on data centers to support demand. Microsoft said it will publish fiscal second-quarter results after the market close on Jan. 28, followed by a webcast of the earnings call. 2
Microsoft has also been trading like an AI proxy. Its shares rose about 1% on Wednesday alongside Nvidia as investors rotated back into AI-linked names, according to a Reuters account of the session. “Rumors that the AI trade was done turned out not to be true,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management. 3
Beyond software, the company has been pushing into the less visible bottlenecks behind the AI buildout. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Midcontinent Independent System Operator, a major U.S. Midwest grid operator, is working with Microsoft on projects such as predicting and responding to weather-related disruptions and transmission planning, as electricity demand climbs with the growth of data centers. “Such acceleration is critical… and the growth of data centers,” Nirav Shah, MISO’s chief information and digital officer, said. 4
Legal noise is still there. A U.S. judge allowed Elon Musk’s lawsuit over OpenAI’s move toward a for-profit structure to proceed to a jury trial scheduled for March; the case names Microsoft as a defendant because of its deals with OpenAI, Reuters reported. Microsoft urged the judge to dismiss the claims against it. 5
But the near-term question for MSFT stock is simpler than the headlines: whether customer rollouts like Fiserv’s translate into measurable revenue and durable demand, fast enough to justify the spending curve. Any sign of slower cloud growth, or tighter corporate tech budgets, would hit the “AI winner” trade quickly.
Investors’ next hard catalyst is Microsoft’s Jan. 28 results and outlook, where traders will parse Azure demand, Copilot adoption signals and any fresh color on AI-related costs. 6
