The headquarters has undergone multiple expansions since its establishment and is presently estimated to encompass over 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space and have over 50,000 employees.

Microsoft chose to move its headquarters from Bellevue to nearby Redmond in January 1985, selecting a 29-acre (12 ha) plot of land that would be developed by Wright Runstad & Company.

[13] The campus was originally leased to Microsoft from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, a pension fund manager, until it was bought back in 1992.

[13] The first major expansion of the campus came in 1992, bringing the total amount of office space to 1.7 million square feet (160,000 m2) across 260 acres (110 ha) of land.

[18] The following month, Microsoft announced that it intended to expand its Redmond campus by 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2) at a cost of $1 billion and said that this would create space for between 7,000 and 15,000 new employees over the following three years.

[33] A set of 875 wells to harness geothermal energy will provide heating and cooling to buildings on the campus through 220 miles (350 km) of water pipes that comprise a geoexchange system.

[34] The campus is located on both sides of the State Route 520 freeway, which connects it to the cities of Bellevue and Seattle as well as downtown Redmond.

[36] Two more pedestrian bridges were jointly funded by Microsoft, the city government, and Sound Transit to connect the campus's light rail stations.

[41] The shuttles were targeted in early 2014 as a symbol of gentrification in similar fashion to the San Francisco tech bus protests that same year.