Microsoft Shares Climb After Record OZ Deal & Azure Growth
Microsoft who is set to invest $5 Billion dollars in Australia over the next two years has delivered unexpected rebound in growth in its Azure cloud computing platform with demand for subscription services such as Office 365 delivering for the US Company, their shares went up 5% after their latest financials were released.
Azure revenue rebounded 29%, this helped to lift overall revenue and earnings well ahead of forecasts.
Overall, Microsoft reported revenue of US$56.5bn, an increase of 13% from a year ago, while earnings per share rose 27$ US$2.99. Wall Street had been expecting earnings of US$2.65 a share on revenue of US$54.5bn.
Analysts had been expecting a further cloud slowdown following the 27% per cent constant-currency growth of the preceding quarter, as customers continue to squeeze more efficiency out of their existing cloud spending claims the London FT.
The Company recently had forecast that generative AI would add 2% to its cloud growth in the period, helping to counter the pressure caused by customers “optimising” their other cloud spending.
The company is expected to give more details about the demand for new AI services in a call with investors later today Sydney time.
Yesterday Microsoft announced it will invest an additional $5bn in Australia over the next two years to expand hyperscale cloud computing capacity while collaborating with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to boost domestic protection from cyber threats.
Anthony Albanese confirmed the new investment on the first day of his state visit to the United States during an event at the Australian embassy in Washington, flanked by Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, and Microsoft Australia and New Zealand Managing director Steven Worrall.