Microsoft just revealed how much its flagship cloud platform makes—a whopping $75 billion a year

·MicrosoftMicrosoft just revealed how much its flagship cloud platform makes—a whopping $75 billion a yearBy Matt O'BrienBy The Associated PressBy Matt O'BrienBy The Associated Press Microsoft is reporting big numbers.AP Photo/Jason Redmond, FileMicrosoft said Wednesday that annual revenue for its flagship Azure cloud computing platform has surpassed $75 billion, up 34% from a year earlier

The Azure cloud is a centerpiece of Microsoft’s efforts to shift its focus to artificial intelligence, but until Wednesday the company hadn’t disclosed how much money it makes

The revelation came in the software giant’s end-of-year earnings report, one that also showed a 24% spike in the company’s quarterly fit that beat Wall Street expectations and pleased investors wary Microsoft’s construction of costly new data centers needed to meet cloud computing and AI demand. “We continue to scale our own data center capacity faster than any other competitor,” CEO Satya Nadella said on an investor call, boasting that the company now has more than 400 of the sprawling facilities across six continents

Microsoft launched Azure more than a decade ago, but the service has increasingly become intertwined with its AI ambitions, as the company looks to sell its AI chatbot and other tools to big customers that are also reliant on its core online services

It still trails behind its lead competitor, Amazon Web Services, which reported $107.6 billion in revenue for its fiscal year that in December

Building the infrastructure to power cloud and AI nology is expensive, and Microsoft has looked for savings elsewhere

It announced layoffs of 15,000 workers this year even as its fits have soared

Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were “weighing heavily” on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era

Still, the overall workforce numbers haven’t changed

The company said it employed 228,000 full-time employees as of June 30, the exact same amount it reported a year ago, though slightly more of them are now U.S.-based and fewer of them are in duct support roles or consulting services. mises of a leaner apach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially as Microsoft and other giants are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI nology

Google said after releasing its earnings last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion

Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Amy Hood, said she expects capital spending for the July-September quarter to be $30 billion

Microsoft didn’t disclose Wednesday to what extent sweeping U.S. tariffs are affecting its revenue, but its annual report lists tariffs among a number of risks the company faces. “Increased geopolitical instabilities and changing U.S. administration priorities create an unpredictable trade landscape,” the company said

It also said the “volatility of U.S. tariffs has triggered economic uncertainty and could impact cloud and devices supply chain cost competitiveness.”Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in America

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