The booming artificial intelligence (AI) market just gained another feather in its cap, after reports confirmed, late yesterday, that Microsoft (MSFT Quick QuoteMSFT - Free Report) is in advanced talks to supply its custom Maia AI chips to Anthropic. As AI-driven growth continues to fuel strong gains across the technology sector, this latest development puts the spotlight on technology exchange-traded funds (ETFs), particularly those with significant exposure to Microsoft, as an attractive way for investors to participate in the ongoing AI boom.

However, before increasing exposure, investors should look beyond the immediate hype. The real opportunity lies in understanding how this deal could reshape the broader technology ecosystem and how aggressively Microsoft is expanding its AI footprint across multiple fronts. Together, these developments strengthen the case for focusing on diversified technology ETFs as the corporate world increasingly pivots toward custom silicon.

A Closer Look at the Anthropic-Microsoft Partnership

While a final agreement has not yet been signed, sources indicate Anthropic is negotiating to use Microsoft’s second-generation Maia 200 AI chips to power its Claude models. This would be a major win for Microsoft, which has lagged its rivals like Amazon and Google in offering custom AI silicon to external clients.

Winning Anthropic as a customer would validate Microsoft's custom silicon strategy after initial development delays, while giving the startup an alternative to Nvidia's expensive, supply-constrained GPUs.

This latest development builds on an already established financial alliance between MSFT and the AI startup. Last year, Microsoft announced a $5 billion investment in Anthropic, alongside a major agreement under which the startup committed to spending $30 billion on Azure cloud services over the duration of the partnership.

This expanding alliance is expected to ripple across the tech industry. By integrating custom chips into its infrastructure, the partnership is accelerating the enterprise shift away from exclusive reliance on GPUs while significantly improving the cost efficiency of large-scale AI inference workloads.

Microsoft Strengthening AI Capabilities Beyond Anthropic

Beyond its dealings with Anthropic, Microsoft has consistently made aggressive moves to expand its market share and solidify its status as a leading AI hyperscaler. The company recently revealed that its Maia 200 processors are already operational across data centers in Arizona and Iowa, delivering an impressive 30% improvement in tokens per dollar compared to legacy fleet silicon. 

Microsoft confirmed that these proprietary chips will be used to run OpenAI’s upcoming GPT-5.2 model. By actively integrating diverse, multi-model options like Claude into its Copilot ecosystem and building massive infrastructure to accommodate external clients, Microsoft has strengthened its appeal as a long-term AI investment.

While the company’s dominant operational geography remains the United States, Microsoft has aggressively expanded its footprint overseas to capture a larger share of the global AI ecosystem. In April, the tech giant announced a historic $10 billion investment in Japan through 2029. 

The initiative is intended to significantly expand advanced data center capacity across eastern and western Japan, equipped with next-generation AI hardware to support sophisticated enterprise workloads and autonomous AI agents.

The hyperscaler is also on track to open its largest data center facility in India by mid-2026 as part of a massive $17.5 billion regional investment driven by skyrocketing Azure and Copilot demand. In Europe, Microsoft is pursuing a $10 billion infrastructure strategy, including major investments in Portugal and expanded Azure deployments across Austria, Belgium and Denmark. These initiatives should solidify a highly resilient, diversified revenue stream for Microsoft in the coming years.   

Tech ETFs to Buy

Considering the aforementioned discussion, while Microsoft’s individual upside is undeniable, investing directly in a single stock exposes shareholders to targeted market volatility. For example, despite reporting strong double-digit revenue growth, Microsoft’s share price has faced a notable year-to-date headwind of approximately 10% due to investor anxiety over massive capital expenditure guidelines and compressed free cash flow margins tied to data center expansion.

Against this backdrop, choosing a diversified tech ETF mitigates this individual stock risk while keeping you fully exposed to the AI secular trend. The following tech ETFs feature Microsoft within their top holdings and represent compelling buying opportunities for investors looking to capture this latest custom silicon growth wave:

Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares (VGT Quick QuoteVGT - Free Report)

This fund, with net assets worth $124.9 billion, offers exposure to 316 companies in the following three general areas: technology software and services, technology hardware and equipment, and semiconductor and semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Of these, MSFT holds the third position in this fund, with 10.01% weightage. 

VGT has surged 21.5% year to date. The fund charges 9 basis points (bps) in fees and traded at a good volume of 3.67 million shares in the last trading session. It sports a Zacks ETF Rank #1 (Strong Buy). 

Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF (FTEC Quick QuoteFTEC - Free Report)

This fund, with net assets worth $17.89 billion, offers exposure to 286 information technology stocks. Of these, MSFT holds the third position in this fund, with 9.91% weightage. 

FTEC has rallied 25.8% year to date. The fund charges 8 bps in fees and traded at a volume of 0.23 million shares in the last trading session. It sports a Zacks ETF Rank #1.

State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK Quick QuoteXLK - Free Report)

This fund, with net assets worth $115.5 billion, offers exposure to 73 companies from technology hardware, storage and peripherals; software; communications equipment; semiconductors and semiconductor equipment; IT services; and electronic equipment, instruments and components industries. Of these, MSFT holds the third position in this fund, with 8.57% weightage. 

XLK has gained 24.1% year to date. The fund charges 8 bps in fees and traded at a good volume of 10.87 million shares in the last trading session. It sports a Zacks ETF Rank #1.

iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW Quick QuoteIYW - Free Report)  

This fund, with net assets worth $23.76 billion, offers exposure to 139 software, semiconductors and tech hardware companies in the United States. Of these, MSFT holds the seventh position in this fund, with 3.75% weightage. 

IYW has risen 20.2% year to date. The fund charges 38 bps as fees and traded at a good volume of 1.03 million shares in the last trading session. It sports a Zacks ETF Rank #1.