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GitHub Copilot, Microsoft's AI-powered coding assistant, has now been used by over 20 million developers since its launch, CEO Satya Nadella revealed during Microsoft's recent earnings call. This milestone—confirmed by GitHub as representing "all-time users"—highlights a staggering surge of 5 million new adopters in the past quarter alone, building on the 15 million users reported in April. While Microsoft hasn't disclosed active monthly or daily usage figures, the growth trajectory signals a seismic shift in how developers integrate AI into their workflows.

Enterprise adoption is accelerating even faster, with Copilot now deployed in 90% of Fortune 100 companies and enterprise customer growth jumping 75% quarter-over-quarter. Nadella emphasized that Copilot has become a larger business than all of GitHub was when Microsoft acquired it for $7.5 billion in 2018, cementing it as one of the few AI products generating substantial revenue. "We're seeing great momentum with our AI coding agents," Nadella noted, pointing to GitHub's expansion into automated code review and workflow automation.

Despite its success, Copilot's user base remains niche compared to mass-market chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, which attract hundreds of millions monthly. Yet this specialization is precisely its strength: developers and enterprises are willing to pay premiums for tools that boost productivity. Copilot starts at $10/month for individuals and scales to $39/user/month for enterprises, leveraging Microsoft's vast corporate ecosystem and GitHub's developer community to dominate the market.

Competition, however, is intensifying. Cursor, a rising rival, has grown its daily active users to over 1 million as of March, with annualized recurring revenue (ARR) soaring from $200 million to $500 million. Like GitHub, Cursor is investing in AI agents that automate coding tasks, blurring the lines between once-distinct tools. Meanwhile, tech giants are doubling down: Google absorbed key talent from AI startup Windsurf, while OpenAI and Anthropic advance their own coding assistants (Codex and Claude Code). This convergence suggests a future where AI doesn't just suggest code but orchestrates entire development cycles.

For developers, this arms race promises unprecedented efficiency gains—but also raises questions about code quality, security, and the evolving role of engineers. As startups and incumbents vie for dominance, the real winners may be the teams that harness these tools to innovate faster, turning AI from a helper into a foundational layer of the software lifecycle.

Source: TechCrunch