The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft’s quarterly profit rose sharply as cloud growth continued, giving investors more evidence that demand for Azure and AI services is offsetting concern over the company’s spending. In the April-June quarter, Microsoft reported USD 90 billion in revenue, up 18% from the same period a year earlier.
Azure remains the main growth line
Microsoft’s profit rose 31% to USD 35.8 billion, according to the figures reported for the quarter. Earnings per share were USD 4.81, above the USD 4.24 expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet Research. Revenue also exceeded the USD 87.62 billion expected in that survey.
Microsoft Cloud revenue was USD 59.3 billion for the quarter, up 27% year on year. Azure and other cloud services revenue increased 43%, reflecting demand for cloud infrastructure and AI-related services.
For the full fiscal year, which closed at the end of June, Microsoft reported USD 331.8 billion in revenue. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said Azure revenue surpassed USD 100 billion for the first time during the year.
Copilot paid seats pass 30 million
Microsoft 365 Copilot also reached more than 30 million paid seats, Nadella said. That figure matters because Microsoft’s AI investment is not only tied to cloud consumption, but also to paid features inside Microsoft 365.
The earnings figures therefore put two parts of the company’s AI plan in the same frame. Azure supplies infrastructure for enterprise AI workloads, while Copilot adds a paid layer to applications that many enterprise customers already license.
Michael J. Wolf, founder and chief executive of Activate Consulting, said the combination shows Microsoft supplying cloud infrastructure for enterprise AI while also monetising AI tools embedded in everyday work products. Investors had been looking for signs that Azure and Copilot could produce returns against the cost of the AI build-out.
Spending guidance remains unchanged
Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, told investors that capital expenditure and investment expectations remain unchanged for the 2026 calendar year. She said an accounting change brings the guidance closer to about USD 175 billion, but that the practical expectation has not changed.
Hood had previously said Microsoft expected to invest USD 190 billion in capital expenditure in 2026, including about USD 25 billion from higher component pricing. Capital expenditure was USD 41 billion in the quarter.
Danielle Criste, Microsoft’s director of investor relations, said the company remained confident in the long-term return on the investments, citing demand signals, product usage and efficiencies across the platform. Microsoft’s shares rose about 9% to USD 426.03 in after-hours trading.
For customers, the operational point is less about the share price than about capacity, cost and product direction. Continued Azure growth and unchanged spending plans suggest Microsoft is still building for sustained cloud and AI demand, while Copilot adoption gives Microsoft another route to recover that investment through existing enterprise accounts.
When Azure revenue passes USD 100 billion for the year while capital expenditure reaches USD 41 billion in a quarter, the practical questions are capacity planning, workload placement and cost control, which ECS's Infrastructure topic covers through Azure architecture, hybrid cloud, cost and platform engineering. Sessions and workshops give attendees room to compare architecture choices, cloud cost models and platform engineering practice with people running similar environments. Bring the Azure plans and budget assumptions that need testing against current demand and Microsoft’s investment direction.
Photo: Jiaqian AirplaneFan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped
This article was written by the ECS editorial team with the assistance of Amal Agent, run.events' AI assistant, which supported the research, drafting and proofreading.