Microsoft and OpenAI in talks to back Figure AI

Tech giants are officially looking to give their AI models a physical body.

Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly in talks to invest up to $500 million in Figure AI, a startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots. The proposed deal could value Figure AI at around $1.9 billion before funding, effectively doubling its status as a tech unicorn if finalized.

Talks are still underway, and details like investment sums could still shift.

Big tech puts real skin in the game

Under the proposed terms, Microsoft is lined up to cut the biggest check, contributing roughly $95 million. OpenAI plans to kick in about $5 million alongside it.

That marks a dramatic acceleration for Figure AI. Just last May, the company raised $70 million in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. CEO Brett Adcock has been vocal about his ambitions, aiming to be among the first pioneers to bring useful, commercially viable humanoid robots to market.

Figure AI’s flagship project is Figure 01, a bipedal robot designed to walk, move, and interact with its surroundings just like a human. But it is not meant to be a showpiece.

The company is building Figure 01 for structured, repetitive tasks in warehouses, retail, and manufacturing plants. The goal is straightforward: tackle dangerous jobs unfit for people and plug chronic labor shortages across global supply chains.

This also is not OpenAI’s only bet on walking hardware. Earlier this month, Norwegian robotics startup 1X Technologies—already backed by OpenAI—secured $100 million in fresh funding.

Why it matters

We think this deal signals a massive shift in how AI leaders plan to monetize their intellectual property. Chatbots and code generators live inside screens, but real physical labor is where trillions of dollars in real-world GDP actually move.

For enterprise customers, humanoid robots have long felt like expensive science projects. Having Microsoft’s balance sheet and OpenAI’s intelligence behind Figure AI makes commercial deployment much more credible for logistics and manufacturing managers. That said, do not expect these robots on your local factory floor tomorrow—hardware reliability and safety in unstructured environments are notoriously brutal hurdles to clear.

For the broader robotics space, this puts serious heat on competitors like Tesla’s Optimus. By pairing top-tier foundation models with specialized hardware startups, Microsoft and OpenAI are threatening to leapfrog legacy players who try to build everything in-house.

Financially, Microsoft putting up the lion’s share while OpenAI provides brand cachet and cognitive tech looks like a very smart play. The obvious risk is valuation: pinning a nearly $2 billion price tag on a startup with an unproven commercial robot means execution cannot afford any missteps.