How Microsoft Azure Accelerates Checkout.com’s AI Growth

The payments industry is vying to prepare infrastructure for a future where AI agents complete transactions without human intervention – a change that is influencing how commerce operates online. 

Now, Checkout.com is signing a multi-year agreement with Microsoft that will see the payments provider migrate to Azure cloud services as both companies position for agentic commerce.

Under the deal, Checkout.com will adopt Azure’s cloud infrastructure to process digital payments for enterprise merchants including eBay, ASOS, Vinted, Pinterest and Klarna. 

The partnership indicates how the broader industry is preparing for autonomous AI systems that could search for products, compare options and complete purchases based on user preferences without requiring human oversight at each step.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Microsoft and adopt Azure, bringing this mission-critical platform into our technology stack,” says Mariano Albera, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Checkout.com.

“The Azure platform has leading machine learning (ML) capabilities – and Microsoft has long been a pioneer of embedding trust into every layer of cloud innovation so that organisations can build, run and scale critical workloads with absolute confidence.”

What is agentic commerce?

The concept of agentic commerce is a departure from current models where humans browse websites and click through checkout processes.

Instead, AI systems would analyse preferences, search across multiple retailers and complete transactions based on predefined parameters. 

This requires payment infrastructure capable of processing high volumes of machine-initiated transactions with minimal latency and robust security.

The migration centres on Azure Payment HSM, a service that uses Thales payShield 10K payment hardware security modules. 

These physical devices perform cryptographic operations required for payment processing whilst meeting Payment Card Industry standards. 

The hardware holds certifications across PCI DSS, PCI 3DS and PCI PIN standards, along with FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification, a US government security standard for cryptographic modules.

Microsoft operates over 200 data centres organised into geographic regions and maintains PCI DSS validation at Service Provider Level 1, the designation for organisations processing more than six million transactions annually. 

The company invests over one billion US dollars each year in security research and development.

Hardware security modules generate and store cryptographic keys that encrypt payment data during transactions. 

The devices handle operations including card authorisation, 3D-Secure authentication for online purchases and point-to-point encryption that protects data between merchant systems and payment processors.

How ML optimises transaction acceptance

Checkout.com operates a payments platform that uses ML to improve transaction acceptance rates in real time. 

The system analyses payment data and adjusts strategies based on outcomes, then applies successful optimisations across all merchants using its Intelligent Acceptance feature. 

This creates network effects where improvements discovered for one merchant benefit others on the platform, reducing declined transactions and processing costs.

Azure provides ML capabilities that Checkout.com will integrate with its existing AI-powered engine. 

The platform offers confidential computing solutions that isolate data during processing, with applications in fraud prevention and risk assessment.

Current payment infrastructure assumes humans initiate transactions – and agentic commerce would require new authentication models and risk frameworks to handle machine-to-machine transactions at scale. 

Payment processors would also need to distinguish between legitimate AI agents and automated fraud attempts. 

Retailers would need to structure data for AI consumption rather than optimising websites for human browsing.

“The payments industry is a constant source of AI-powered innovation and by collaborating and co-innovating with Microsoft, Checkout.com will be able to further enhance payment performance for merchants around the world,” says Tyler Pichach, Global Head of Payments at Microsoft Financial Services.

“We are proud to be working with a successful, high growth UK-born fintech to scale even faster, across the globe.”

Mariano frames the infrastructure upgrade as preparation for both immediate needs and future commerce models: “Our combined commitment to relentless innovation sets merchants up for success, enabling them to thrive,” he says.

“And beyond the here and now – enabling them to explore and embrace the agentic commerce models where AI agents search and shop on behalf of consumers.”