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The tech giant’s revenue was up 12 percent to $69.6 billion, but investors are showing their nerves after a long boom for tech stocks.
By Karen Weise
Karen Weise has covered Microsoft since 2018.
Jan. 29, 2025, 4:29 p.m. ET
Investors worried about how much money big technology companies are spending on artificial intelligence did not get much relief from Microsoft when it reported its latest financial results on Wednesday.
In its most recent quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, Microsoft kept up its rapid drive to build data centers to power cloud computing and artificial intelligence. It spent $22.6 billion on capital expenses, almost twice as much as a year earlier.
Microsoft has said it would spend around $80 billion in data centers this fiscal year, which ends in June. It is sprinting because it has said it does not have enough capacity to meet customer demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing services.
That spending came against the backdrop of solid overall growth in both profits and revenue for the tech giant. Revenue hit $69.6 billion, up 12 percent from a year earlier. Profit rose 10 percent, to $24.1 billion. The results beat Wall Street’s expectations and Microsoft’s own predictions.
“We are expanding our opportunity and winning new customers,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The questions about A.I. spending among big technology companies grew more urgent after a Chinese start-up, DeepSeek, startled Wall Street this week with an advanced A.I. system the company said was developed for a fraction of the power and costs than leading tech firms had spent.
