Microsoft has never disclosed AzureâÂÂs quarterly revenue in dollars. It has typically only shared a growth percentage or described revenue dollar milestones in vague ways. But on Wednesday, when it posted another record-breaking quarter, it reported that Azure brought in a healthy $33.2 billionàin revenue for the JulyâÂÂSeptember quarter, up 48% from a year earlier.
The disclosure lets investors line up AzureâÂÂs performance more directly against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, whose parent companies already report cloud revenue in dollars every quarter.
Alphabet, which also reported earnings on Wednesday, saidàGoogle Cloud brought in $30.7 billionàin the same quarter, putting Azure slightly ahead. But Google Cloud, which also includes GoogleâÂÂs Workspace subscriptions, roughly doubled its revenue from a year earlier, growing about twice as fast as Azure, according to TechCrunchâÂÂs calculations.
Azure, where businesses rent computing power to run applications, SaaS, and to build and run AI models, is now MicrosoftâÂÂs largest and fastest-growing product line by the companyâÂÂs own figures. It accounted for roughly 36% of MicrosoftâÂÂs $92.3 billion in quarterly revenue.
AzureâÂÂs revenue was also about $850 million more than theà$32.3 billion analysts expected. AzureâÂÂs 48% growth rate also topped the 44% to 45% that Microsoft CFO Amy Hood forecast on the companyâÂÂsàJuly earnings call.
Azure sits inside Agents and Infra, one of two new business segments Microsoft introduced this quarter. Microsoft previously reportedàthree segments, Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing. The new Agents and Infra segment, which groups Azure with Microsoft 365âÂÂs cloud business,àbrought in $76.8 billion, up 25% from a year earlier.
Amazon reports its earnings on Thursday. Analysts also expect its cloud, Amazon Web Services, to grow. ItâÂÂs been the largest cloud since the beginning of time and no one expects Microsoft to best it right now. But with all of them reporting actual dollars, the race is on.
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