Technology giant Microsoft announced good quarterly results. Its revenue increased by 13% to 70.1 billion dollars, thanks to good results in cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI).

The results, which significantly exceeded analysts' expectations, led to Microsoft's share price rising by more than 5% in post-earnings trading, AFP reports.

All eyes will be on what the company has to say about its future prospects in the analyst call. There are major concerns that US multinationals could suffer due to the high-tariff policies of President Donald Trump's administration.

Microsoft has remained more discreet in its support for Trump than its rivals, many of which have contributed to the president's inauguration fund and announced major investments in the US.

Net profit at Microsoft, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, rose 18% to $25.8 billion compared with the same period last year.

Crucially, Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $42.4 billion, up 20% year-on-year. CFO Amy Hood attributed this to “continued demand for our differentiated offerings.”

Microsoft was one of the first tech giants to double down on AI when the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 shook up the tech industry.

Like its rivals, the company has spent huge amounts of money building the infrastructure needed to power the AI revolution, and analysts are keeping a close eye on the return on investment.

In January, it said it was on track to invest about $80 billion in AI this fiscal year.

This quarter, Microsoft said that its relationship with ChatGPT creator OpenAI was evolving and that it would no longer be the exclusive supplier for the startup's colossal computing needs.

It has been a major supporter of OpenAI, mainly by providing much of the computing capacity needed to create AI models.

The company's Intelligent Cloud segment, which is a key part of Microsoft's business, showed particularly strong growth with revenues of $26.8 billion, up 21%.

Revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew 33%. This reflects the increasing adoption of Microsoft's cloud platforms.

The Productivity and Business Processes division, which includes Office 365 and LinkedIn, generated revenue of $29.9 billion, an increase of 10%.

The company said it returned $9.7 billion to shareholders during the quarter through dividends and share repurchases. | BGNES