Microsoft Accelerates GitHub Integration with Full Migration to Azure

Microsoft is accelerating the full integration of GitHub into its corporate ecosystem, signaling the end of the developer platform’s long-standing operational independence. According to internal communications reviewed by multiple sources, GitHub is preparing to migrate all of its infrastructure from its own data centers to Microsoft Azure within the next two years – a move being described internally as “existential” for meeting the company’s growing AI-driven demands.

The transition follows the departure of GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke in August, a shift that has already tightened Microsoft’s oversight of the platform. GitHub’s CTO Vladimir Fedorov told employees that the company’s main data center in Virginia is struggling to meet capacity requirements, particularly as AI-powered products such as GitHub Copilot continue to expand. “It’s existential for us to meet the demands of Copilot and AI, which are changing how people use GitHub,” Mr. Fedorov wrote in an internal memo.

The note outlines an ambitious timeline: GitHub plans to exit its data centers within 24 months, with the effective migration window closer to 12 months, given the need to operate both the old and new systems concurrently for at least six months. To meet this deadline, most feature development across GitHub will be temporarily paused, allowing teams to focus entirely on the Azure migration.

“This must be done,” Mr. Fedorov emphasized, describing Azure as the company’s “way ahead.” He urged teams to treat the move as a top priority, even if it means slowing innovation in the short term.

GitHub had already started transferring portions of its infrastructure to Azure over the past year, though progress has reportedly been inconsistent. Some initiatives, including its data residency program, Project Proxima, already rely on Azure’s local cloud zones to ensure regional data compliance for enterprise customers – particularly in Europe, where regulatory demands for code and data localization are rising.

GitHub Outages – AI and User Activity

The migration underscores Microsoft’s strategy to unify its AI and developer ecosystems under Azure, bolstering performance and reliability for Copilot and related AI workloads. However, not all GitHub employees are confident in the transition. Internal concerns have surfaced about potential service disruptions, particularly given the complexity of moving GitHub’s massive MySQL clusters, which currently run on custom bare-metal infrastructure.

Outages have become more frequent in recent months, a symptom of GitHub’s growing operational strain. Insiders suggest the platform’s infrastructure – originally designed to handle conventional development workloads – is now being pushed to its limits by large-scale AI integrations and surging user activity.

By consolidating operations on Azure, Microsoft aims to eliminate those bottlenecks and position GitHub for the next phase of AI-assisted software development. The plan reflects a broader trend among major tech companies to recenter strategic assets within their own cloud ecosystems, reducing external dependencies and strengthening competitive advantage in the race to dominate enterprise AI infrastructure.

Still, the move marks a symbolic turning point for GitHub, which had largely maintained autonomy since Microsoft acquired it in 2018 for $7.5 billion. As it now shifts from operating as an independent developer platform to becoming a fully integrated part of Microsoft’s AI and cloud stack, GitHub’s next chapter will test how well innovation can thrive inside the structure of one of the world’s largest technology companies.