Foreign media reports: Microsoft is gradually terminating its AI computing power leasing agreement with Oracle.

According to foreign media citing people familiar with the matter, Microsoft (MSFT.O) has declined to renew its AI computing power lease agreement with Oracle (ORCL.N) and has gradually shut down the leased computing resources in recent months. The sources added that the servers provided by Oracle run on older-generation NVIDIA (NVDA.O) chips, which no longer align with Microsoft’s current technical specifications. The two parties struck the deal in 2023 to power the new version of AI search engine Bing, with the specific contract value undisclosed. Oracle responded that its AI infrastructure demand remains robust, and older-generation GPUs still hold market demand. Microsoft is currently reassessing its external AI computing power partnerships; it has previously committed over $80 billion in computing power lease spending to emerging cloud service providers including Coreweave (CRWV.O), Nscale, and Nebius (NBIS.O). Earlier reports indicated that Microsoft management has grown increasingly frustrated with the high costs and project delays of some suppliers, recently ramping up reviews of data center projects, exiting some high-risk initiatives, and re-evaluating new computing power cooperation agreements. Meanwhile, Oracle’s cloud business has expanded rapidly, but steep capital expenditures have pushed its free cash flow into negative territory, and investor concerns over returns on its AI infrastructure investment have mounted—its stock price has fallen more than half from this year’s peak. In reaction to the news, Oracle’s stock turned negative quickly during intraday trading, with its decline once widening to 4.6%, ending the session up 0.74%.