Competition among enterprise technology companies is intensifying to secure the title of the AI agent that corporate users use first at work. Companies spanning data infrastructure software and business applications are entering a race to build AI agent platforms that can safely and effectively use data across internal systems, including third-party systems. As technologies such as the Model Context Protocol evolve, firms are repositioning strategies, partnering while also competing, and accelerating investment across data and application layers.

Competition is intensifying over platforms that optimise multiple AI models with internal corporate data so AI can better understand organisations and execute tasks. Enterprise software companies are treating such platforms, which help AI grasp corporate context and play an operating system role, as strategically important. Microsoft, Snowflake, Adobe and SAP have highlighted products and strategies focused on context layers, governance and services for AI agents, while interest also rises in PCs and chips running AI locally.