{"id":49329,"date":"2026-02-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=49329"},"modified":"2026-03-06T15:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:15:25","slug":"postgresql-on-azure-supercharged-for-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/blog\/postgresql-on-azure-supercharged-for-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"PostgreSQL on Azure supercharged for AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are almost a century removed from when a group of computer scientists at Dartmouth College coined the term \u201cArtificial Intelligence.\u201d In the 75-year span, AI has become common vernacular, making inroads from imagined to mainstream. Today, we see entire industries being disrupted and entire ecosystems revolutionized by AI. To keep up, the way developers work and the tools they use have had to evolve. Every developer now needs to be an AI developer, and every system\u2014from compute and storage to the data layer\u2014now needs to be AI ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The database reimagined<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New AI applications require databases that are not only reliable, extensible, and secure, but also AI-ready. In parallel, the way developers build software is being reshaped by AI. 1<\/sup>Most developers\u2014more than 80%\u2014now use AI tools in their workflow. This has led to notable productivity gains and it\u2019s changing expectations for developer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostgreSQL has emerged as a top choice among developers and is becoming the default starting point for many new applications and projects. Favored by developers for its reliability, extensibility, and rapid innovation, 2<\/sup>PostgreSQL is chosen by 78.6% of developers that are building AI and real-time applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostgreSQL on Azure meets the moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selecting the right ecosystem is critical to support your AI and agentic aspirations, and we\u2019ve made great strides in bolstering our PostgreSQL managed services to meet the needs of today\u2019s developer. At Microsoft, we\u2019ve embraced PostgreSQL not just as a product, but as a community. We\u2019re proud to be one of the top contributors to the PostgreSQL open-source project, with more than 500 commits in the latest release. We are continuously innovating to make PostgreSQL the best database for building intelligent applications, and Azure the best place to run them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn about Azure Database for PostgreSQL<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The existing\u00a0Azure Database for PostgreSQL<\/a> continues to cater to lift-and-shift and new open-source workloads with improved performance and experience, while the new\u00a0Azure HorizonDB, introduced at Ignite, targets the future by offering a\u00a0PostgreSQL-compatible\u00a0cloud service built for scale-out and ultra-low latency. Together, they position Azure to support developers building everything from small apps and agents to AI-powered, mission-critical systems, and anything in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A frictionless and intelligent developer experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Building intelligent applications should feel intuitive, not intimidating. The Microsoft team has invested in making Azure Database for PostgreSQL a frictionless experience, especially for those building AI apps and agents. From provisioning to AI integration and scale, we\u2019ve reimagined the developer experience to remove friction at every step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start in the IDE you love<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The journey begins in Visual Studio Code\u2014the leader in integrated development environments (IDEs) among developers\u2014by a mile<\/a>. With our PostgreSQL extension for Visual Studio Code, developers can now provision secure, fully managed PostgreSQL instances on Azure directly from the IDE. No portal hopping or manual setup. Just a few clicks, and your database is ready to go with built-in support for Entra ID authentication and Azure Monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, GitHub Copilot<\/a> becomes your intelligent assistant. It understands your PostgreSQL schema and helps you write, optimize, and debug SQL queries using natural language. Whether you’re joining tables, creating indexes, or exploring performance issues, Copilot is right there with you offering expert-level guidance to save time and improve performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access in-database intelligence for smarter, faster apps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once your database is live, you\u2019re just a query away from infusing AI into your application. Azure Database for PostgreSQL now supports seamless integration with Microsoft Foundry<\/a>, enabling developers to invoke pre-provisioned large language models (LLMs) in SQL. You can generate embeddings, classify text, or perform semantic search without leaving the database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For applications that rely on relevance and speed, our DiskANN vector indexing delivers high-performance similarity search. Combined with semantic ranking, your queries return more accurate results, faster. This is ideal for powering intelligent agents, recommendations, and natural language interfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build intelligent agents with Microsoft Foundry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you’re ready to build AI agents, Microsoft Foundry\u2019s native PostgreSQL integration makes it easy. Using the new Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for PostgreSQL, developers can connect PostgreSQL directly to Foundry\u2019s agent framework with a few clicks and permissions. This allows agents to reason over your data, invoke LLMs, and act on insights. And, of course, this is all backed by Azure’s enterprise-grade security and governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a powerful combination: PostgreSQL\u2019s structured data, Foundry\u2019s orchestration, and Azure\u2019s AI models working together to deliver intelligent, context-aware applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leverage zero extract, transform, load (ETL) real-time analytics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Intelligent applications thrive on fresh insights. With Azure Database for PostgreSQL, you can mirror your operational data into Microsoft Fabric for real-time analytics without impacting performance. Alternatively, we\u2019ve also enabled support for Parquet via the Azure Storage<\/a> Extension, letting customers directly read from and write to Parquet files stored in Azure Storage from their Postgres databases, using SQL commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means faster time to insight, fewer moving parts, and more time spent building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance and scale that grows with you<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

All this intelligence is meaningless if the database isn\u2019t secure and performant. As such, we\u2019ve continued to innovate to unlock better performance and scale to meet the needs of even the most demanding, hypergrowth AI workloads. With PostgreSQL 18 now generally available on Azure, you get faster I\/O, improved vacuuming, and smarter query planning. Our new V6 compute SKUs deliver higher throughput and lower latency, while Elastic Clusters enable horizontal scaling for multi-tenant and high-volume workloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you’re building a startup MVP or scaling a global AI platform, Azure Database for PostgreSQL is ready to grow with you. Our customers have already been utilizing these new capabilities to build competitive advantage in industries from pharma to finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real-world AI on Azure: How Nasdaq reinvented governance with PostgreSQL <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When people think of Nasdaq, they picture trading floors and financial data moving at lightning speed. But behind the scenes, Nasdaq also manages board governance for thousands of organizations, including nearly half of the Fortune 500. At Ignite, Nasdaq shared how they modernized their Boardvantage platform using Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Microsoft Foundry<\/a>.  

Their goal:<\/strong> introduce AI to help directors navigate 500-page board packets and extract insights, without compromising security or compliance.

The result?<\/strong> A governance platform that uses AI to summarize meeting minutes, flag anomalies, and surface relevant decisions while keeping each customer\u2019s data isolated and protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead: Azure HorizonDB and the future of intelligent apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Ignite, we also introduced Azure HorizonDB<\/a>, a new, fully managed PostgreSQL-compatible service built for AI-native workloads. With scale-out compute, sub-millisecond latency, and built-in AI features, Azure HorizonDB represents the future of cloud databases. While the service is currently in private preview, it\u2019s a glimpse of what\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Explore Azure HorizonDB<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The future is open, intelligent, and built on Azure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At Microsoft, our mission is to offer customers databases equipped for next-generation development, whether they be SQL, NoSQL, relational, or open source. As PostgreSQL continues to stand out as a platform for innovation, it\u2019s now primed for intelligent applications and agents due to Microsoft\u2019s continued support and service enhancements. Whether you\u2019re a startup building your first AI feature or an enterprise modernizing mission-critical systems, Azure gives you the tools to move faster, build smarter, and scale confidently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of intelligent applications will be written in Postgres, and we\u2019re thrilled to build it together with you on Azure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n