Microsoft and 3M partnership includes datacenter tech, AI app development

Microsoft and 3M have announced a new partnership through which Microsoft will deploy 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) technology in its datacenters and 3M will work with the Microsoft Frontier Company to deploy business solutions with “AI and digital capabilities”.

3M will engage with Microsoft Frontier Company to “[deploy] engineers to help 3M’s Global Business Services team automate the way it manages customer orders,” according to a statement. The work will cover, among other areas, assisting with credit checks, delinquency assessments and system updates, and a custom monitoring dashboard, they stated.

Announced in early July, Microsoft Frontier Company expands the company’s forward-deployed engineer initiative with a $2.5B investment and plans to deploy 6,000 engineering and industry consultants at customer sites. Microsoft noted engagements with London Stock Exchange Group, Land O’Lakes,  Unilever, and Novo Nordisk and plans to continue using forward-deployed engineering (FDE) resources via major partners including Accenture, Capgemini, EY, KPMG, and PwC. Regional sales executive Rodrigo Kede Lima was named president of Microsoft Frontier Company.

The use of EBO data center technology in datacenters will “make fiber connections faster to install, more tolerant of contamination and easier to maintain,” according to Microsoft. 3M’s EBO offerings have been in the market for several years, but the company announced expanded manufacturing capacity in the US in March 2026.

Microsoft stated that early use of EBO has “shown the potential to reduce network deployment timelines in certain environments” and has “demonstrated strong signal performance in live data center conditions”.