Microsoft wants to make it easier for developers to create AI-powered apps on Windows devices.
Microsoft announced Windows AI Foundry on Monday at the Build 2025 Conference. Microsoft describes Windows AI Foundry as a “unified platform for local AI development.” This is a way to fine-tune, optimize and deploy the AI models that support Windows apps.
Despite the high costs associated with developing tent pole models, Microsoft is seeing more and more AI as the main profit driver, whether it is running locally or in the cloud. In January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tech Giant has $13 billion in annual AI revenue thanks to its partnership with ChatGPT maker Openai.
Microsoft may not be able to directly benefit from third-party AI-powered apps on Windows. Still, Microsoft aims to promote a thriving ecosystem at the expense of its rivals by making it easy to build AI software on Tech Giant’s flagship operating system. So Windows AI Foundry.
According to a press release shared with TechCrunch, Windows AI Foundry can automatically detect the hardware of your Windows machine and get the software components needed to run a specific AI model. According to Microsoft, Windows AI Foundry provides tools designed to keep these components up-to-date as new devices are released and simplify the model preparation process.
Windows AI Foundry also includes Foundry Local, and a new service that “brings the power of (AI) models (…) to client devices.” In addition to Windows, Foundry Local, which supports MACOS, comes with a set of modules that use AI models and tools directly, leveraging the ONXX Runtime, an open source project aimed at accelerating AI across the platform.
Foundry Local also comes with command line interface support, so developers can use prompts such as “Foundry Model List, Foundry Model Run” to browse, test and interact with models running on the local server.
“Foundry Local automatically detects device hardware (CPU, GPU, NPU) and lists compatible models that developers will try,” writes Microsoft. “Developers can leverage the Foundry Local SDK to easily integrate Foundry Local into their apps.”