Microsoft to spend record $30 billion in this quarter as AI drives growth

Reuters

Microsoft expects to invest about $30 billion in capital expenditures this quarter, part of an overall record of more than $80 billion planned for fiscal 2025, as its Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered cloud services continue to accelerate revenue and market value.

Microsoft’s surge in AI spending is paying off. In Q4, the company is projected to spend roughly $30 billion. It is a quarterly peak as it builds out AI infrastructure to support Azure, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub, and other cloud services.

For fiscal 2025 overall, Microsoft remains on track to exceed $80 billion in capital expenditures, dedicated largely to data centres and high-performance servers that underpin its AI strategy.

The company’s AI-led growth strategy showed results in its Q4 earnings - Azure surpassed $75 billion in annual revenue, growing 34% year‑on‑year and helping drive total quarterly revenue to $76.4 billion, up 18% from a year earlier.

Microsoft shares climbed more than 7% following the earnings release, as investors welcomed earnings beats and strong forward guidance on cloud and AI momentum. The company is now nearing a $4 trillion market valuation.

Despite laying off around 15,000 employees this year, executives reaffirmed that cutting costs was “transformational” and necessary to align with rapid AI infrastructure scaling and efficiency goals

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