Microsoft Build 2025: AI-Centric Developer Conference Set for May 19-22 in Seattle

Microsoft Build kicks off May 19 - here's what we know so far

Want to keep up with the latest AI developments? This event is essential viewing. Every year, the spring season brings a series of launch events from the major tech companies, including Microsoft. The software giant just revealed the dates of its annual developer conference, Microsoft Build. Here's everything you need to know. Microsoft Build will take place from May 19 to 22 in Seattle. Although a schedule is yet to be published, the event typically includes a two-hour keynote on the first day, during which the company makes its major announcements, including software and hardware reveals. If you have been keeping up with the latest generative AI offerings, you won't want to miss the event. To make sure you don't, you can sign up for notifications on the Microsoft Build web page. Because the event is still months away, Microsoft has not shared details about attending or viewing the conference. However, even though Microsoft Build takes place in Seattle, the company typically includes options for the public to livestream the keynotes and breakout sessions on the company's website. If you already know that date won't work for you, don't worry: ZDNET will be covering the announcements and developments in real time on the site. Although Microsoft does not have all of the attention OpenAI has in the AI space, it's been a major player, offering competitive consumer, developer, and enterprise AI solutions, such as its Copilot chatbot. As a result, we expect Microsoft will unveil the latest of its AI offerings, which will likely span its Office 365 applications, AI chatbot, Copilot+ PCs, and developer offerings such as GitHub, Fabric, Azure AI, and Azure DevOps. Also: The best laptops of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed Most likely, there'll be hardware launches as well. Last year, the day before Microsoft Build, Microsoft unveiled its first consumer AI PCs -- the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. It also unveiled new PCs from its partners, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.

Microsoft's Build 2025 developer conference kicks off on May 19th

Microsoft's annual Build developer conference will take place in Seattle and run from May 19 to May 22, the company announced on X. There are no details on what will be announced, but you can be fairly sure it'll match or beat Build 2024 in terms of AI-related products and services. Artificial intelligence played a large part in last year's conference, featuring in areas ranging from Windows search to Copilot+ to Microsoft Paint. In fact, a day before Build 2024, Microsoft unveiled its new Surface Pro PC powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, capable of hitting 45TOPS of neural processing power. The same sort of thing might happen this year, as rumors say that Microsoft could launch new Surface models later this year, including a laptop and 2-in-1, both using Windows on Arm with Qualcomm's latest PC-oriented chips. In fact, Qualcomm could also unveil a successor to the X Elite, which first arrived in October 2023. It's fair to say that the Windows 11, along with the company's Microsoft 365 suite, will see substantial AI enhancements announced for Build 2025. Microsoft has substantially changed its approach to AI in the intervening year as well. It's no longer wedded as closely to OpenAI and ChatGPT, having recently announced that it's bringing DeepSeek to Copilot+ PCs and Azure cloud. All of that adds up to what will likely be a very AI-intensive developer conference, even if a large chunk of the public isn't sold on it yet.

Microsoft Build 2025 dates are officially confirmed

We can build this thing together, standing strong forever, nothing's gonna stop us now. Credit: Cesc Maymo/Getty Images Microsoft's next big event is officially on the calendar. The 2025 edition of Microsoft Build was confirmed by the company this week, or more specifically, the dates when it will happen were confirmed. According to Microsoft's website, the developer-focused conference kicks off on May 19 and ends on May 22. It will take place in Seattle. While Microsoft could and might announce new hardware at its Build keynote, you should really expect a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence. At Build 2024, AI integrations for apps like Teams were the primary focus, with hardware decidedly taking a backseat. There's no guarantee Build 2025 will be exactly the same, but given everything we've seen from other tech companies recently, don't be shocked if this is a very AI-centric event.

Microsoft's Build developer conference starts on May 19th

Microsoft Build 2024 also took place just days after the unveiling of new Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs at a special Windows and Surface AI event. With rumors of a smaller Surface Pro and Surface Laptop expected in the spring, perhaps we'll even see new Surface hardware debut around the same time again. I'm also expecting a lot of announcements for Copilot at Build, whether it's the consumer version or the Microsoft 365 Copilot that businesses pay for. Microsoft recently relaunched Copilot for businesses with free AI chat and pay-as-you-go agents, and it's certainly not done trying to convince businesses that AI agents are the future. Microsoft also started bundling Office AI features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions recently, and I'm expecting to hear more about Microsoft's Office and Windows AI ambitions at Build this year.