Microsoft’s Azure cloud business posted 29% sales growth in the September quarter, faster than analysts estimated, in part because of corporate customers’ interest in new artificial intelligence products. In its own report the same day earlier this week, for the same period, Google parent Alphabet Inc. struck a more subdued tone, saying that cloud clients are still in cost-cutting mode. And on Thursday, Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud-revenue picture was mixed, with sales slightly less than projected and operating income ahead of analysts’ predictions. Microsoft — which is No. 2 in the market, behind Amazon but ahead of Google — noted that it took cloud market share from competitors, but didn’t say which.After a spree of investment during the pandemic, businesses spent much of 2022 and 2023 in what the biggest software companies euphemistically called “optimization” — making better use of stuff they’re already paying for and looking for places where they can save. That has meant the biggest cloud providers are vying to land big contracts in a more challenging environment, leading them to look for ways to entice businesses, including by offering to incorporate the latest artificial intelligence-based products that promise to boost efficiency.
Full story at Yahoo News
By Dina Bass, Matt Day and Davey Alba.
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