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Technology · Global

Microsoft's Azure sales beat forecasts as revenue climbed

Microsoft reported Azure sales up 48% to $33.2 billion and total revenue up 19% to $92.3 billion for the quarter ending in September. Its shares gained about 3% in extended trading, while cloud-capacity suppliers CoreWeave and Nebius fell.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 4 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 1 of 4 outletsHow it's made

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4 outlets2 regionsLatest reporting 4 min readNo new reporting in 4 days
Coverage: Center OnlyL 0 · C 3 · R 0 · 1 unrated
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What happened

Key facts

  • Microsoft said Azure sales rose 48% to $33.2 billion for the quarter ending in September, above analysts’ 44% growth forecast.
  • Microsoft’s revenue increased 19% to $92.3 billion, exceeding analysts’ 17% forecast.
  • Microsoft shares rose about 3% in extended trading after closing at $531.01.
  • Microsoft said earlier that week it would offer buyouts to 60,000 employees, about a quarter of its workforce.
  • Capital expenditures rose 30% to $45.2 billion, below expectations because of delays in third-party cloud-capacity deliveries, Investor Relations Chief Jonathan Neilson said.

The brief

Microsoft said Azure sales grew 48% to $33.2 billion in the quarter ending in September, highlighting the performance of its cloud computing division. The company also reported $10 billion in revenue from commercial arrangements with OpenAI during the quarter, including revenue-sharing payments Microsoft receives from its partner.

Microsoft’s shares rose about 3% in extended trading after closing at $531.01. The company’s stock had already climbed 36% since it reported earnings on July 29, according to ndtvprofit.com. The figures offer a measure of both Azure’s recent sales growth and Microsoft’s commercial relationship with OpenAI.

Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on a conference call after the results that the company’s capital spending is expected to exceed $50 billion in the current period.

Her forecast sets a substantial spending figure alongside the reported cloud sales and OpenAI-related revenue; the account does not specify how much of that spending is allocated to any particular project. Hood also said Azure sales could grow as much as 50% in the quarter ending in December, adjusted for currency fluctuations.

That is a company forecast, rather than a reported result. The account provides no further breakdown of the forecast or its expected contribution from individual customers or products. Separately, Microsoft said earlier in the week that it would offer buyouts to 60,000 employees, about a quarter of its workforce.

The account does not link the proposed buyouts to Azure’s sales, OpenAI arrangements or the capital-spending forecast, so the facts do not establish a connection among them. Together, the results, outlook and spending forecast put Azure’s recent growth, the OpenAI commercial arrangements and Microsoft’s plans for the current and coming quarters in focus.

The next reported milestone in the account is the quarter ending in December, for which Hood gave the Azure growth forecast. No actual sales result for that period is yet stated.

Why it matters

  • Azure’s faster-than-expected growth strengthens Microsoft’s case for investing in cloud and AI infrastructure, while customers’ demand is increasing faster than some suppliers can deliver capacity. Those delivery delays held capital spending below expectations and weighed on cloud-capacity providers CoreWeave and Nebius, highlighting how Microsoft’s growth also depends on outside infrastructure.

What to watch next

  • Whether Azure sales in the quarter ending in December reach the growth of as much as 50% that Amy Hood forecast, adjusted for currency fluctuations.
  • Whether Microsoft’s capital spending exceeds $50 billion in the current period, as Hood expects.
  • Whether Microsoft’s planned buyouts to 60,000 employees proceed.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
4 source articles · 4 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Center Only· 3 Center · 1 unrated
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 50% · Asia 25% · Other 25%
Outlet political mix
Center Only
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
3 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 1 unrated outlet is not included.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
4 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (3 of 3 rated sources); comparatively few Left or Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

One source is from a wire service (AP, Reuters, AFP or Bloomberg), whose reporting other outlets often republish.

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Microsoft announced Windows Azure.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. Microsoft made Windows Azure commercially available.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  3. In 2019, Microsoft announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI and an arrangement under which Azure would provide cloud infrastructure for OpenAI’s work.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. OpenAI’s public release of ChatGPT in November 2022 brought generative AI to a broad audience and intensified interest among businesses in tools that could generate text, write code and analyze information.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. Microsoft announced an expanded partnership with OpenAI in January 2023, including additional investment and a commitment to provide computing capacity.
    Background · from our historical context
  6. Microsoft and CoreWeave disclosed a partnership to supply cloud computing for Microsoft’s AI services.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  7. Microsoft said it planned to invest about $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers during its 2025 fiscal year.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

Microsoft’s cloud business developed from a shift that began well before the recent surge in generative artificial intelligence. Azure was announced in 2008 and became commercially available in 2010, as Microsoft sought to extend its software and services beyond products installed on customers’ own computers and servers.

The company later broadened Azure into a platform for renting computing power, storage, databases, networking and software tools. That made it possible for businesses to move some or all of their technology workloads into Microsoft-operated data centers rather than build and maintain all of their own infrastructure. Azure grew alongside Microsoft’s wider enterprise business.

Original sources

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