Microsoft just shipped .NET 10 with native AI agent support, marking the company’s most aggressive push into agentic AI yet. The Long Term Support release includes Microsoft Agent Framework in public preview—a unified toolkit for building autonomous AI agents that can make decisions, execute tasks, and collaborate without constant human oversight. For the first time, enterprise developers can build production-grade AI agents entirely within the .NET ecosystem, challenging Python’s longstanding dominance in AI development.
Microsoft Agent Framework Goes Native in .NET
The Microsoft Agent Framework unifies Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single open-source foundation for building AI agents and multi-agent workflows. Available now in public preview for both .NET and Python, it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft.Extensions.AI and supports Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, and Azure AI providers.
What sets this apart from DIY agent approaches is the built-in multi-agent orchestration. Developers can choose from sequential workflows (agents execute in order), concurrent patterns (parallel execution), handoffs (shifting responsibility between agents), or group chat models where multiple agents collaborate in real-time. The framework includes an AI Agent Web API template for quick deployment and AG-UI protocol for building interactive, streaming agent interfaces.
The proof isn’t in the preview—it’s in production. KPMG is using Agent Framework to power Clara AI, a multi-agent system that automates audit testing and documentation across every KPMG audit worldwide. BMW deployed it to analyze terabytes of vehicle telemetry in real-time, cutting analysis time from days to minutes. Commerzbank is piloting avatar-driven customer support, while Fujitsu is embedding it into integration services. Xbox Gaming Copilot is already live.
These aren’t pilot projects—they’re enterprise bets on Microsoft’s agent runtime strategy.
Model Context Protocol Brings Standardization
Complementing the Agent Framework, .NET 10 introduces the Model Context Protocol (MCP) C# SDK in public preview. MCP is Anthropic’s open protocol for connecting AI applications to external tools and data sources, and Microsoft partnered with Anthropic to build the official C# implementation.
Install it with dotnet add package ModelContextProtocol --prerelease, and you get standardized integration with databases, APIs, and file systems. The SDK includes two packages: core functionality with dependency injection extensions, and ASP.NET Core hosting for HTTP-based MCP servers. It depends on Microsoft.Extensions.AI libraries for AI interactions.
MCP matters because it’s vendor-neutral. Your agents aren’t locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem—they can interact with any MCP-compliant tool or data source. Xbox Gaming Copilot and Copilot Studio are already running MCP in production, proving the protocol works at scale.
Performance: 49% Faster Than .NET 8
Beyond AI capabilities, .NET 10 delivers the “fastest .NET yet” with 49% faster average response times compared to .NET 8. Specific scenarios see 3x improvements with 70-90% less garbage collection pressure. The JIT compiler got smarter with de-abstraction (skipping virtual method calls), better inlining, and method devirtualization.
Delegate escape analysis alone shows .NET 10 running 3x faster with 3x less memory allocation than .NET 9. Hardware acceleration support expanded to AVX10.2 for Intel processors and Arm64 SVE for advanced vectorization. NativeAOT produces smaller, faster ahead-of-time compiled applications.
For AI workloads—which are performance-critical—these gains translate directly to lower cloud bills and faster agent execution. Python’s speed advantage in AI isn’t as clear-cut anymore.
Strategic Play: Challenging Python’s AI Dominance
Microsoft is positioning .NET 10 as “AI-native,” not just cloud-native. The Agent Framework supporting both .NET and Python is a strategic hedge—capture developers in either ecosystem. But the enterprise angle is pure .NET: security, scalability, Azure integration, and LTS support through November 2028.
Recent surveys show 60% of enterprise developers favor Python for AI versatility, while 40% appreciate .NET’s Microsoft integration. Microsoft isn’t trying to win the 60%—it’s doubling down on the 40% and offering a compelling alternative for production deployments where performance, tooling, and stability matter more than rapid prototyping.
KPMG and BMW didn’t choose Python for their agent systems. They chose .NET because it’s production-ready, enterprise-grade, and backed by Long Term Support. That’s the market Microsoft is targeting.
What This Means
The .NET 10 release isn’t just a framework update—it’s Microsoft’s stake in the ground for the agent runtime wars. With AWS launching Kiro, OpenAI building agent platforms, and Anthropic pushing MCP, Microsoft needed a first-party solution that works today, not a roadmap promise.
Agent Framework is in public preview now. Developers can download .NET 10 from get.dot.net/10 and start building autonomous agents with the same tools they use for enterprise applications. The question isn’t whether .NET can do AI—BMW and KPMG already proved it can. The question is whether Microsoft can convert Python-first developers to consider .NET for their next agent project.
Based on the performance numbers and enterprise adoption, that’s not an unreasonable bet.
