Microsoft will hold its developer-focused Build conference in Seattle, Washington from May 19 until May 22. The company shared few details about Build 2025 when confirming the dates of the event, but it's a safe bet to assume AI will be a heavy focus.
"Sign up below to receive the most up-to-date information about Microsoft Build," states the welcome page when you choose to be notified about Build 2025. "Explore the latest innovations in code and application development—and gain insights from peers and experts from around the world."
What is Microsoft Build?
Microsoft Build is a conference aimed at software engineers and web developers. The annual event usually falls in May, which is the case this year. Build is an important event for developers and engineers to learn about Microsoft's available technologies and tools. It also serves as an excellent networking opportunity for those within the industry. Ultimately, the tools discussed at Build each year are used to make technology used by a massive audience. Additionally, Microsoft often shares some news that's immediately of interest to everyday users.
Build 2024 focused largely on AI, which is hardly a shock given trends in tech. Microsoft discussed AI agents and last year's Build conference and shipped Phi-3 vision models. The tech giant also showed off Edge's real-time translation capabilities and announced support for custom emojis in Microsoft Teams at Build 2024. Qualcomm even joined in on the fun by announcing its Snapdragon X Elite-powered mini PC, though that device was later cancelled.
Last year, Microsoft held a private event the day before Build to announce the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7, both of which featured Snapdragon X chips. Microsoft does have new Surface hardware on the way, but those devices could be announced at an event further away from Build 2025. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden said "Microsoft intends to begin shipping these smaller Surface PCs in the April/May timeframe." We'll have to see how the dates of that product launch line up with Build.
