The Economics of Agent Optimization: Four Ways to Lower the Cost
Microsoft, Wednesday, August 26th, 2026
Microsoft Foundry offers four runtime levers that cut AI agent cost without changing agent logic.
Steve Sweetman, Vice President of Product Management for Foundry Models, argues that the request is the atomic unit of AI spend, and that cost control should therefore start there. Microsoft Foundry provides four levers that act on every request before a single line of agent logic changes, meaning teams can reduce cost without refactoring their agents.
The post explains the economics of agent optimization and how runtime optimization in Foundry applies these levers. It is aimed at developers and IT decision makers watching agent costs climb faster than expected as usage scales.