Checkout.com has announced a multi-year agreement with Microsoft to migrate its payment infrastructure to Azure cloud services, positioning both companies for the rise of agentic commerce—where AI agents complete transactions without human intervention.
Azure Infrastructure for AI-Driven Payments
The payments provider will leverage Azure’s cloud infrastructure to process digital payments for enterprise merchants including eBay, ASOS, Vinted, Pinterest, and Klarna. Central to the migration is Azure Payment HSM, which uses Thales payShield 10K hardware security modules meeting PCI DSS, PCI 3DS, and PCI PIN certifications, along with FIPS 140-2 Level 3 security.
Mariano Albera, CTO of Checkout.com, stated: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Microsoft and adopt Azure, bringing this mission-critical platform into our technology stack. The Azure platform has leading machine learning capabilities—and Microsoft has long been a pioneer of embedding trust into every layer of cloud innovation.”
Machine Learning Optimizes Transaction Acceptance
Checkout.com already uses machine learning to improve transaction acceptance rates in real time. Its Intelligent Acceptance feature analyzes payment data, adjusts strategies, and applies successful optimizations across all merchants, creating network effects that reduce declines and processing costs. Azure’s ML capabilities will integrate with this existing AI engine, and Azure’s confidential computing solutions enhance fraud prevention and risk assessment.
Preparing for Agentic Commerce
The partnership aims to prepare for a future where AI systems search products, compare options, and complete purchases based on user preferences without human oversight. This requires payment infrastructure capable of handling high volumes of machine-initiated transactions with minimal latency and robust security.
Tyler Pichach, Global Head of Payments at Microsoft Financial Services, commented: “The payments industry is a constant source of AI-powered innovation and by collaborating with Microsoft, Checkout.com will be able to further enhance payment performance for merchants around the world.”
Albera added: “Our combined commitment to relentless innovation sets merchants up for success, enabling them to explore and embrace the agentic commerce models where AI agents search and shop on behalf of consumers.”
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