Microsoft's Going To Keep Spending Big As Ai Continues To Boom

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesMicrosoft plans to boost spending on artificial intelligence and cloud services as demand rises.The company made $26.7 billion in revenue this quarter from cloud products, including Azure.Microsoft's spending commitment follows leaked plans to acquire 1.8 million AI chips this year.Microsoft isn't slowing down its artificial-intelligence spending spree anytime soon.In its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, the tech giant said it would continue to invest in AI and cloud services because of growing demand and a rise in average spending on its cloud platform, Azure.Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said on the call that capital expenditure — what a company spends on buying or maintaining assets — would increase "materially.""Currently, near-term AI demand is a bit higher than our available capacity," Hood said.The company spent nearly $11 billion on property and equipment in the third quarter — 66% more than it spent in the same period a year ago.Microsoft booked $26.7 billion in revenue in the third quarter from its cloud products, including Azure, according to the earnings statement.The AI assistant Copilot grew its paid subscribers by 35% this quarter to 1.8 million, CEO Satya Nadella said on the call.Microsoft's better-than-expected earnings sent stock up 4% in after-hours trading.