SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that net profit for the October-December quarter soared 33%, powered by its significant investments in artificial intelligence technology. The increase owed a great deal to growth in the company's cloud-computing unit, where Microsoft focuses most of its AI investments.
The company reported net income for the quarter of $21.87 billion, or $2.93 per diluted share, which beat Wall Street expectations of $2.79 per share.
The Redmond, Washington-based software maker posted revenue of $62.02 billion in the quarter, up 18% from last year, also beating expectations.
Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Microsoft to earn $2.77 per share on revenue of $61.14 billion. Analysts are currently projecting that Microsoft will generate revenue of $60.97 billion for the January-March quarter.