LinkedIn shelves plans to move its cloud to Microsoft Azure

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LinkedIn is building a new data center rather than shifting to Azure

data centre
(Image credit: Future)

Microsoft's plans to transition LinkedIn to Azure have been put on hold, according to individuals familiar with the matter (via CNBC).

The project, codenamed ‘Blueshift’, had been announced in 2019, three years after Microsoft acquired the social media and networking platform. Until now, LinkedIn has been using its own data centers, and with the project now seemingly cancelled, it looks like that will continue to be the case.

Some Microsoft workers report having learned about the project’s pause last year, but a new document seen by CNBC details a mutual agreement between Microsoft and LinkedIn to hold off on the migration.

LinkedIn won’t use Azure

The precise reasons behind both companies’ decisions are unclear. LinkedIn CTO Raghu Hiremagalur said in a memo to employees last year: "With the incredible demand Azure is seeing and the growth of our platform, we’ve decided to pause our planned migration of LinkedIn to allocate resources to external Azure customers."

Microsoft Cloud revenue, which includes Azure and other businesses, was up 22.1% in the company’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended June 30. During that period, interest in Microsoft-backed OpenAI generative AI products boomed, in turn knocking up revenue. LinkedIn also saw a healthy growth of 9.6%.

Redmond has also been in a lot of trouble all over the world from various antitrust regulators. Key to many of these cases have been its unfair dominance and anticompetitive business practices, often relating to cloud services. However, Microsoft continues to hold second place, trailing far behind AWS.

A LinkedIn spokesperson commented on the matter: “We are using both Azure to complement our infrastructure needs and further investing in our data centers.”

One of the people familiar with the matter added that LinkedIn is in the process of building another data center to handle its computing needs, suggesting that the platform has no immediate intention of seeing through its Project Blueshift.

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Craig Hale
Craig Hale

With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!