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Microsoft posted quarterly benefits better than expected on Wednesday, as its cloud division has declared robust growth in high demand for artificial intelligence services.
Revenues increased by 13% during the quarter at the end of March compared to the same period of the previous year to $ 70.1 billion. Net profit increased by 18% to 25.8 billion dollars. The two figures exceeded the average estimate in an alpha visible S&P survey.
Microsoft’s actions jumped 6% in exchanges after working hours in New York, adding around $ 176 billion in market value.
The group’s cloud division, known as Azure, posted a 20% increase in income from a year ago to $ 42.4 billion, largely in accordance with expectations. The key unit had missed expectations during the previous quarter, which sold the shares.
Microsoft’s capital expenses – equipment expenses and other significant investments – were $ 21.4 billion in the quarter, compared to $ 14 billion in the same period a year earlier. The company said in January that it would spend about $ 80 billion during the fiscal year ending on June 30 to build a new data center infrastructure.
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, Microsoft President Brad Smith is committed to spending “tens of billions of dollars” per year in European data centers to protect customers’ access to their data and their calculation power. This decision is intended to reassure the region that President Donald Trump will not be able to cut access to critical technology in the middle of a world trade war.
However, the evolutionary relationship of the software giant with the start-up Openai, which it supported with $ 13 billion in investment, has raised doubts about whether it will adjust its development rate.
Microsoft in January said that it would change the structure of its agreement with OPENAI to allow the company led by Sam Altman to use the Cloud Computing services. He retains the right of the first refusal.
This decision coincided with the start-up by announcing with the supplier of Cloud Oracle and the Japanese Bank that she builds at least $ 100 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States in a project nicknamed Stargate.
Microsoft has been forced to postpone in recent weeks against allegations according to which she felt the slowdown in AI demand following reports he had canceled leases and moved away from negotiations with several suppliers of data centers.
“We slow down or take a project break at an early stage,” said Noelle Walsh, president of Microsoft Cloud operations in a statement earlier this month. “Any new business important to this size and on this scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our customers.”
