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Microsoft’s Strong Quarter Masks AI-Heavy Backlog and Little Azure Acceleration

Investors are weighing whether big AI spending will convert into broader, durable cloud demand.

Overview

  • Microsoft reported revenue up 18% to about $83 billion with operating income up 20%, showing a strong headline quarter.
  • The commercial backlog, called remaining performance obligations and representing signed work not yet recognized as revenue, reached $627 billion but rose only about $2 billion from the prior quarter.
  • Microsoft said that excluding OpenAI, commercial RPO grew 26% year over year and commercial bookings rose 7%, signaling that recent gains lean on a single large partner.
  • Azure’s growth rate changed little even as costs for AI chips and new data centers rise, raising questions about the payoff from added capacity.
  • The stock fell about 5% after the results and is still down roughly 14% this year, reflecting doubts about how fast AI investments will translate into broad customer revenue.