Stocks of software giant Microsoft jumped Wednesday after the release of fourth quarter revenues based on the growth of cloud computers and artificial intelligence applications. Microsoft is a major investor in Openai, a generative AI giant and creator of ChatGpt.
The Tech giant intelligently saw crowdsegment revenues, including revenue, for the first time on dollar terms from Microsoft's Azure Business or its public cloud computing platform. Previously, Microsoft only reported growth rates in its intelligent cloud business in percentages.
Azure Market sells computing power and other services and faces tough competition from market leader Amazon Web Services. Microsoft shares went to $551 to $37.76 (7.3%) in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a post-market analyst call that cloud computing and AI represent the major growth drivers of his company. “We are building on a large scale the most comprehensive suite of AI products and technology stacks,” Nadella said in a prepared statement.
“Every Azure region is becoming AI first,” he added the creation of a huge data center that Microsoft is building to meet the growing demand companies and consumers of AI services. That's because investors are looking for returns from the software giant with heavy, continuous investments in AI products and data centers.
“We are experiencing a generational technological shift with AI. I have not been so confident in Microsoft's opportunity to drive long-term growth and define what the future will look like,” Nadella argued.
The Microsoft boss also spoke about his company's gaming business, which has 500 million monthly active users on the platform and devices. “We are currently the top publishers of both Xbox and PlayStation,” he told analysts.
Microsoft's overall revenue rose 18% to $76.4 billion, with Bloomberg's analyst consensus estimate of $738.9 billion. Net profit rose 24% to $27.2 billion.
