Microsoft posts $21.9 billion in net income, bets big on AI

Microsoft has posted a revenue of $61.9 billion in its third quarter (Q3) — up 17 per cent — with $21.9 billion in net income which increased 20 per cent.

According to Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry.

“Our AI innovation continues to build on our strategic partnership with OpenAI as more than 65 per cent of the Fortune 500 now use Azure OpenAI service,” he told analysts during the earnings call.

Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23 per cent year-over-year, in the quarter that ended March 31.

“Overall, we are seeing an acceleration in the number of large Azure deals from leaders across industries, including billion-dollar-plus, multiyear commitments announced this month from Cloud Software Group and the Coca-Cola Company,” said Nadella.

Microsoft now have over 350,000 paid customers.

On GitHub Copilot, there are 1.8 million paid subscribers with growth accelerating to over 35 per cent quarter over quarter.

“We are seeing AI democratise expertise across the workforce,” said Nadella.

“We’re also seeing increased usage intensity from early adopters, including a nearly 50 per cent increase in the number of Copilot-assisted interactions per user in Teams, bridging group activity with business process workflows and enterprise knowledge,” he added.

When it comes to devices, Copilot in Windows is now available on nearly 225 million Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs, up two times quarter over quarter.