SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft has reported sales from its Azure cloud computing unit on a quarterly basis for the first time, providing a direct comparison to its top rivals Amazon.com and Alphabet’s Google as the three compete in the computing market amid an artificial intelligence (AI) data centre boom.
Microsoft said that Azure had US$29.4bil in sales in its most recently ended quarter and US$101.9bil in sales in its most recent fiscal year ended June 30.
The figures place Microsoft behind Amazon, whose cloud sales were US$42.2bil in its most recent quarter, but ahead of Google, which reported US$24.8bil in cloud sales in its most recent quarter.
Microsoft previously reported a closely watched growth rate for Azure but not its sales.
Microsoft will move from three reporting segments to two: one called “Agents and Infra” that will include its cloud computing services, its sales from AI-based software and its revenue from more traditional business software, and one called “Devices and Consumer” that will include its Windows operating system, its Xbox gaming unit and its advertising sales across both its Bing search engine and LinkedIn, the business-focused social network.
“There’s no question AI represents a profound shift in both technology and business,” Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said in a statement accompanying the change.
“It is changing what we build and how we operate, and it is blurring the boundaries between our products and reshaping our business models.”
Microsoft also updated the quarterly forecast it gave investors last month, slightly lowering its Azure revenue forecast, but said the changes reflected the move of some sales from GitHub, its code-hosting service, which were previously grouped with Azure, to grouping those with its M365 Cloud software businesses, which includes most of its advanced AI offerings.
“Microsoft’s overall current quarter outlook remains unchanged,” the company said.
Microsoft is a major cloud computing provider to OpenAI, which exclusively used Microsoft for training its models until changes in the terms of its deal allowed it to work with Amazon Web Services and others. — Reuters
