Microsoft's profits up 33 per cent thanks to investments in artificial intelligence and cloud computing

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Microsoft's revenue in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 grew by 18% year-on-year to $62.02 billion, driven by the company's significant investments in artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies.

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According to Microsoft, the increase in revenue largely reflects the success of the Azure cloud services division, where the main investments in AI are directed. Its revenue for the quarter grew 20% to $25.88bn.

According to the company, the number of Azure AI customers reached 53,000. A third of them joined the service in the last 12 months.

In addition, the corporation's CEO Satya Nadella said that the number of customer commitments to spend more than $1bn on Azure increased in the previous quarter.

Microsoft's net income was $21.87bn, up 33% from the same period last year. The company also managed to beat analysts' forecasts by $0.14 per share.

Other divisions also showed significant growth, including the Xbox business (+61%) after the deal to buy Activision Blizzard.

Source: Microsoft