Salesforce has signed a seven-year, $2.5 billion contract with Google Cloud, which is expected to change the landscape of cloud computing and increase competition with Microsoft. Salesforce clients may now use Google’s infrastructure to run their AI-powered CRM, Agentforce AI assistants, and Data Cloud products, further accelerating the trend toward AI-driven business solutions.

Although Salesforce has long relied on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power its cloud architecture, its closer collaboration with Google Cloud signifies a more significant shift in strategy. Salesforce chose Google because of its expanding customer base and technological capabilities, even though it could have hosted its goods anywhere, said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. Companies like Accenture and Wayfair are already preparing to migrate their Salesforce applications to Google’s infrastructure.

Another advantage of the partnership is cross-platform benefits. Through the Google Cloud Marketplace, Salesforce solutions are now easily available to Google Cloud users, making deployment and acquisition simpler. Salesforce’s Agentforce clients will have access to Google’s state-of-the-art Gemini AI models in the interim, boosting automation and productivity for businesses integrating AI into their operations.

Industry observers indicate that this effort is a direct challenge to Microsoft, going beyond infrastructure. As Salesforce transitions to AI-driven automation—where digital agents do complex operations without human assistance—the company’s need for scalable processing capacity has grown. Salesforce has partnered with Google Cloud, a leader in AI-optimized infrastructure, to obtain the processing power needed to further its AI initiatives.

Salesforce and AWS extended their partnership until late 2023, so they aren’t cutting all links. Rumor has it that the business has also considered collaborating with Microsoft and Oracle to increase cloud capacity, which would be a bold move to enter the cloud services and artificial intelligence markets.

Salesforce is putting itself at the forefront of the enterprise AI revolution and guaranteeing the AI infrastructure it requires by strengthening its partnership with Google. As cloud providers vie for the next generation of AI-powered business solutions, this agreement represents a significant power shift that might significantly affect how enterprises employ AI in the future.