Running AI workloads in specific regions—whether for compliance, latency, or data residency—now comes with more options and clearer pricing. Starting September 1, 2026, Microsoft Foundry is updating pricing for EU Data Zone and Regional deployments outside the US, while also launching a new APAC Data Zone to serve customers across Asia-Pacific. Foundry continues to expand your options across cost, performance, and data residency. Because delivering AI within a specific geography at high availability costs more than a shared global pool, the updated pricing reflects both that investment and the compliance value these options provide.

TL;DR key changes: Global pricing stays the same. EU Data Zone increases 9% above Global. Regional deployments outside the US increase to 7-16% above Global. New APAC Data Zone launches at 20% above Global. Changes apply September 1, 2026

Pricing Update starting September 1, 2026

Running AI in a specific geography or country, at high availability, costs more than running in a shared global pool. To reflect that, pricing for Data Zone and Regional deployments outside of the United States is increasing on September 1, 2026*. Global pricing stays the same and remains your most cost-efficient choice. 

Table 1: Pricing Update starting September 1, 2026

Table 2: Regional pricing effective September 1, 2026 (price relative to Global**) 

*How the change applies:

• Standard (pay as you go): the planned premiums apply only to models launched on or after September 1, 2026. Customers who stay on their current models see no price increase; the higher EU Data Zone and Regional premiums apply only when they move to a model launched on or after September 1, 2026.
• Provisioned Throughput (PTU): the increase applies to all customers with EU Data Zone or Regional PTUs outside of the US.

  • For PTU, prices relative to Global are for monthly and yearly reservations. Hourly PTU prices relative to Global might differ.

** For Data Zone and Regional deployments, price premiums are relative to Global pricing. Please see Azure pricing page for most current rates.

 ***Newly available regions at this price (no prior rate).

For exact, current rates by model and deployment type, see the Azure pricing page.

Learn more about Foundry model deployment types and regions here. 

More Options across cost, performance, and data residency

Foundry’s core differentiator is choice. Foundry aims to be your platform of choice providing a single suite of offers that span not only models, performance tiers but also data processing requirements. This enables you to have control over your data all within the same, common code.

Here is where your requests can run: 

• Global — processing runs wherever Microsoft’s global infrastructure has capacity, built for agility and cost-efficiency.

• Data Zone (US, EU, and now APAC — processing stays within the selected geography to support regional data residency requirements.

• Regional — processing stays in-country for the strictest requirements.

How you run is a differentiator too. Choose Standard for flexible, agile, and economical scaling, Priority Processing for low-latency real-time apps, Provisioned Throughput (PTU) for predictable performance at scale, or Batch for high-volume jobs at the lowest cost of the four options. You can mix and match per workload. The instant model deployment experience is designed to reduce the setups friction so developers can go from model selection to first inference faster.

Foundry also keeps getting more efficient. The model router in Foundry Models matches each request to the most appropriate model, balancing quality, latency, and cost. Prompt Caching cuts redundant computation for recurring and long context interactions. PTU Spillover and quota optimization preserve service continuity through usage spikes. Together, these capabilities are designed to improve token efficiency, reduce compute cost, and shift more tuning into the platform rather than manual work.

Learn how to optimize model deployment and performance in Microsoft Foundry.

Choosing where AI processing happens

Where your AI requests are processed can affect both latency and compliance. Many organizations have data residency requirements that shape where they can run AI. Data Zone and Regional deployments let you keep processing within a chosen geography or country while using the same models and tooling available elsewhere on Azure. You remain responsible for determining whether a given configuration meets your regulatory obligations; Foundry provides deployment options that can support those requirements.

As Hongsoo Kim, Chief Data and AI Officer at Toss, put it, Foundry keeps “data processing regionally anchored while accessing advanced AI models at scale”- giving the confidence to “accelerate AI innovation responsibly.” 

Build your next AI workload on Foundry 

Whatever the workload calls for — lowest cost, low latency, an SLA, or strict data residency — there’s a Foundry deployment that fits. Start building today in Microsoft Foundry. For more information about deployment types in Microsoft Foundry, please read the learn documentation.