Microsoft shares climbed 8% in after-hours trading after the company posted stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results and said it plans to keep investing heavily in AI infrastructure. Revenue rose 18% year over year to $90.01 billion, beating analysts’ forecasts, while adjusted earnings also came in above expectations. The company said higher profits were helped by a gain from its investment in Anthropic and lower retirement-related costs.
The company’s Azure cloud business remained a key growth driver, with revenue increasing 43% from a year earlier. Microsoft’s cloud business continued to power its growth, with Azure revenue jumping 43% from a year earlier and surpassing $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. The company also reported growing interest in its AI products, saying Microsoft 365 Copilot now has more than 30 million paid users, while GitHub Copilot has reached 50 million users.
Microsoft expects first-quarter revenue to top market estimates and plans to continue increasing capital spending to support AI demand. Finance chief Amy Hood said investment in data centers and other infrastructure will keep rising through fiscal 2027, reflecting strong customer demand across the company’s cloud and AI businesses.
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