Microsoft Foundry GA includes GPT-5.6 models and APAC Data Zone
Microsoft Foundry is now generally available with OpenAI's GPT-5.6 model series (Sol, Terra, Luna), offering different performance and cost optimizations for various workloads. The release also introduces an Asia-Pacific Data Zone for regional data processing and generally available hosted agents in Foundry Agent Service, enabling production deployment of AI agents across Microsoft 365. These updates aim to provide a unified platform for building, running, and governing AI agents, impacting developers and organizations leveraging AI.
- →GPT-5.6 model series now available
- →Asia-Pacific Data Zone for regional AI processing
- →Foundry Agent Service includes production-ready hosted agents
- →Developer tools for agent creation
- →Enhanced agent knowledge access with Microsoft IQ
Features (4) ›
- GPT-5.6 model series now available
Microsoft Foundry now offers OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, and GPT-5.6 Luna models, each tuned for specific workloads like advanced reasoning, balanced performance, or high-volume latency-sensitive tasks. These models are available in Standard Global and Standard Data Zones.
- Asia-Pacific Data Zone for regional AI processing
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) Data Zone is now generally available in Microsoft Foundry. This allows customers in the region to run frontier OpenAI models while keeping data processing within APAC, addressing sovereignty and compliance requirements.
- Foundry Agent Service includes production-ready hosted agents
Foundry Agent Service now offers generally available hosted agents with features like network isolation via Azure VNet integration, resilient task support (private preview), and Voice Live integration. This provides a unified runtime for agents built with various frameworks.
- Developer tools for agent creation
Agent development can begin in GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Code using the Foundry Toolkit for VS Code. Foundry supports production deployment for agents built with Microsoft Agent Framework, GitHub Copilot SDK, and Claude Agent SDK.
Enhancements (1) ›
- Enhanced agent knowledge access with Microsoft IQ
Foundry integrates enterprise knowledge for agents through Microsoft IQ, which unifies Work IQ for Microsoft 365, Fabric IQ for structured data, and Web IQ for live web grounding. This feature is now generally available.
Notes (1) ›
- Foundry provides an end-to-end AI agent platform
Microsoft Foundry is positioned as an end-to-end platform for building, running, governing, and distributing AI agents. It aims to simplify the process of moving agents from experimentation to production by integrating model access, agent runtime, and enterprise controls.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/gpt-5-6-now-available-in-microsoft-foundry/
Related releases
- Claude Opus 5 available on Azure Databricks Azure Updates ·
- Azure API Management adds AI Gateway in public preview Azure Updates ·
- Azure Firewall supports HTTP header insertion Azure Updates ·
- AT&T and Microsoft leverage Foundry and AMD for trillion-token AI workloads Microsoft Azure Blog ·
- Azure Kubernetes Service 1.33 reaches end of life in 7 days endoflife.date ·
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL 11 reaches end of life in 7 days endoflife.date ·