Microsoft shares dropped in late trading after the software maker forecast slower quarterly cloud revenue growth, reflecting the company's struggle to bring data centers online fast enough to keep up with demand for artificial intelligence services. Meanwhile Meta Platforms Inc. said it will ramp up heavy investments in AI and other futuristic technologies, continuing a years-long tug-of-war between the company's long-term bets and the core advertising business that provides the vast majority of Meta's revenue.
Sharply rising capital investments show no sign of slowing as the latest reports fail to excite investors.
Investors are fretting about how long the AI boom can last after the Big Tech companies forecast that their capital spending will carry on rising.
Microsoft enjoys an A.I. boom but there are concerns over capex and a slowing cloud division which pulls the share price lower in extended trade.
Frankfurt-listed shares in Microsoft and Meta both fell in early trading on Thursday, even as earnings at the two U.S. tech groups beat Wall Street expectations.
Big tech including Microsoft and Meta are stepping up spending to build out AI data centers in a rush to meet vast demand, but Wall Street is hungry for a quicker payday on the billions invested.
Microsoft disclosed the size of its OpenAI investment for the first time, acknowledging in its quarterly regulatory filing Wednesday afternoon that it has made “total funding commitments of $13 billion” to the ChatGPT maker.
After Microsoft (MSFT) reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that topped analysts' estimates, CFO Amy Hood told investors on the company's earnings call that demand for artificial intelligence (AI) “continues to be higher than our available capacity.”
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said the company will record around $1.5 billion in other expense, mainly because of an expected investment loss at OpenAI. Microsoft has invested close to $14 billion in OpenAI, including its participation in a round announced this month.
Microsoft's aggressive push into artificial intelligence (AI) is showing traction with enterprise customers, as the company reported growth in AI adoption across its product portfolio.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT ) Q1 2025 Results Conference Call October 30, 2024 5:30 PM ET Company Participants Brett Iversen - Vice President of Investor Relations Satya Nadella - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Amy Hood - Chief Financial Officer Alice Jolla - Chief Accounting Officer Keith Dolliver - Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel Conference Call Participants Keith Weiss - Morgan Stanley Brent Thill - Jefferies Mark Moerdler - Bernstein Karl Keirstead - UBS Kash Rangan - Goldman Sachs Mark Murphy - JPMorgan Raimo Lenschow - Barclays Rishi Jaluria - RBC Operator Greetings, and welcome to the Microsoft Fiscal Year 2025 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.
Although the revenue and EPS for Microsoft (MSFT) give a sense of how its business performed in the quarter ended September 2024, it might be worth considering how some key metrics compare with Wall Street estimates and the year-ago numbers.