Microsoft Corp ( MSFT ) is trading higher on Friday. The company landed a major U.S. government contract and unveiling a new robotics-focused AI model. Here’s what you should know.

Microsoft’s New Developments

The U.S. Air Force awarded Microsoft ( MSFT ) a $170.4 million firm‑fixed‑price task order for its Cloud One Program, which will rely on Microsoft Azure to support secure cloud services for Air Force operations and customers. The work will be carried out across Microsoft's ( MSFT ) designated U.S. facilities and is slated to run through Dec. 7, 2028.

In a separate announcement, Microsoft ( MSFT ) introduced Rho‑alpha, its first robotics model built from the company's Phi family of vision‑language models. Microsoft ( MSFT ) describes Rho‑alpha as a "VLA+" (vision-language-action) model capable of turning natural language instructions into control signals for robots performing complex, two‑handed manipulation tasks.

What sets Rho‑alpha apart is its integration of tactile sensing alongside vision and language understanding. Microsoft ( MSFT ) says the model is designed to improve continuously in real‑world use by learning from human feedback.

Rho‑alpha's capabilities come from co‑training on physical demonstrations, simulated tasks and large‑scale visual question‑answering data.

Technical Analysis

Microsoft ( MSFT ) is currently trading 0.8% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 5.8% below its 100-day SMA, suggesting it is struggling to maintain momentum in the short to medium term. Over the past 12 months, shares have increased by 4.99% and are positioned closer to their 52-week highs than lows, reflecting a relatively stable long-term trend.

The RSI is at 33.50, which is considered neutral territory, while the MACD is below its signal line, indicating bearish pressure on the stock. The combination of a neutral RSI and bearish MACD suggests mixed momentum, reflecting the current indecisiveness in the stock’s price action.

Key Resistance: $489.50

Key Support: $465.00

MSFT Price Action: Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares were up 4.05% at $469.43 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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