Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on a conference call with analysts that higher-than-expected AI consumption was responsible for a 3 percentage point boost to its cloud business.
Alphabet has prioritized snaring AI startups as customers for its cloud division, while Microsoft has relied on its existing relationships to secure larger customers.
Azure revenue rose 29%, higher than a 26.2% growth estimate from market research firm Visible Alpha.
RBC Capital Markets has previously estimated that Microsoft will clock over $3 billion in revenue from generative AI offerings this fiscal year.
Quite surprising to see strong growth reacceleration in the Azure Cloud segment, which is clearly driven by AI-as-a-service related demand," said Global X analyst Tejas Dessai.
Persons:
Microsoft's, Bob O'Donnell, Bing, Bard, Amy Hood, Krishna Chintalapalli, capex, Akash Sriram, Anna Tong, Max Cherney, Yuvraj Malik, Greg Bensinger, Stephen Nellis, Sayantani Ghosh, Sonali Paul
Organizations:
Microsoft, Wall, Microsoft's, TECHnalysis, Parnassus Investments, DAZZLES, Alpha, RBC Capital Markets, Reuters Graphics Microsoft, Tejas Dessai, AWS, Thomson
Locations:
Bengaluru, Anna, San Francisco