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 * Artificial Intelligence


MICROSOFT'S COSTS IN FOCUS AS FEARS RISE OVER SLOW PAYOFF FROM AI

By Aditya Soni
July 29, 202412:32 PM GMT+2Updated 14 hours ago
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A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near
Paris, France, March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes//File Photo Purchase
Licensing Rights, opens new tab
July 29 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab investors will have one
big question when the tech giant reports earnings on Tuesday: has growth in its
Azure cloud-computing business picked up enough to justify the billions of
dollars being spent on artificial intelligence infrastructure?
Widely seen as the front-runner in the race to make money from AI, thanks to its
tie-up with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft is expected to report that Azure's
growth stayed steady quarter-over-quarter at about 31% between April and June,
according to data from Visible Alpha.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue

That would be in-line with the company's forecast, but investors are expecting a
bigger contribution from its AI business in the fiscal fourth quarter after it
accounted for 7 percentage points of Azure's growth in the first three months of
the year.
Microsoft's capital spending likely surged about 53% year-over-year to $13.64
billion in the period, according to 16 analysts polled by LSEG. A big step up
from the $10.95 billion in expenditure it recorded in the previous quarter.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue


Reuters Graphics
Fears that runaway spending by tech giants on data centers would yield little
payoff in the short term have dogged the U.S. stock market this month amid signs
that Wall Street may have become too optimistic about earnings growth.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab fell more than 5% last
week after the company reported a quarterly capital spending that exceeded
estimates by nearly $1 billion, while the revenue boost from AI integrations
remained modest, sparking a selloff in major tech companies.

Alphabet said its quarterly capital expenditure would stay high for the rest of
2024 at or above $12 billion.
"Investors will be very focused on Microsoft's ability to continue to accelerate
revenue growth, especially the portion related to AI. If revenue acceleration
doesn't materialize and increases in capex continue, investors may be
disappointed," said Gil Luria, senior software analyst at D.A. Davidson.

Microsoft has said it needs to spend on data centers now to overcome the
capacity constraints that are hampering its ability to capitalize on AI demand.

Reuters Graphics
Its view echoes that of other tech companies, including Alphabet. The Google
parent's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said last week that "risk of under-investing (in AI
infrastructure) is dramatically greater than the risk of over-investing."


'WELL POSITIONED'

The spending surge has allowed Microsoft to court more business from its large
enterprise client base by offering expanded access to its AI cloud service and
rolling out features such as its 365 Copilot assistant for Word and Excel.

Microsoft has said the $30-per-month Copilot service, which can summarize heaps
of emails into a few bullet points or speedily complete lines of computer code,
is used by half of the Fortune 500 companies.
The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant is, however, yet to disclose the
revenue contribution from the service, and analysts believe Copilot's impact
will be more apparent in the back half of calendar year 2024.
"While a lot of focus has been on consumer-facing applications like ChatGPT,
(generative AI) is potentially a larger opportunity for enterprise and Microsoft
is just incredibly well positioned to capitalize on their install base," said
Igor Tishin, analyst at Harding Loevner, a $55 billion asset manager that counts
Microsoft and Alphabet among its largest holdings.
Microsoft shares have risen about 13% this year, adding more than $350 billion
to the company's market value. The stock hit a record high on July 5, but has
dipped nearly 9% in the recent tech selloff. It has underperformed a 14.5% rise
in the S&P 500 this year.

Generative AI boom drives up market value of tech giants Generative AI boom
drives up market value of tech giants
The company is expected to post a 14.6% increase in overall revenue for the
April-June period, compared with 17% growth in the previous quarter.
That is mostly down to slower growth in its personal computing business that
includes Windows and the Xbox gaming division. The productivity business - home
to the Office suite of apps, LinkedIn and 365 Copilot - is expected to post
growth of about 10%.

Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the
world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.

Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Shinjini
Ganguli

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

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