Microsoft said Wednesday that annual revenue for its flagship Azure cloud computing platform has surpassed $75 billion, up 34% from a year earlier.
The Azure cloud business has been a centerpiece of Microsoft's efforts to shift its focus to artificial intelligence, but until Wednesday the company hadn't disclosed how much money it makes.
The revelation came in the software giant's end-of-year earnings report. The company also said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was $34.3 billion, or $3.65 per share, beating analyst expectations for $3.37 per share.
It posted revenue of $76.4 billion in the April-June period, up 18% from last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been looking for revenue of $73.86 billion.
Microsoft launched Azure more than a decade ago, but the product has increasingly become intertwined with its AI ambitions, as the company looks to sell its AI chatbot and other tools to big business customers that are also reliant on its core online services.
But building the infrastructure to power cloud and AI technology is expensive, and Microsoft has looked for savings elsewhere. It has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were “weighing heavily” on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era.
Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially as Microsoft and other tech giants are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology.
Google said after releasing its earnings last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon.
