Microsoft and Meta Platforms reported March quarter earnings that beat market expectations, suggesting that robust demand for synthetic intelligence (AI) helps each firms navigate financial uncertainty pushed by tariffs. The highlights from the 2 US tech giants embrace Microsoft’s Azure cloud enterprise and Meta’s promoting income, each considerably bolstered by their AI developments.
Shares of Microsoft and Meta jumped 7% and 5.4%, respectively, in after-hours buying and selling, lifting US inventory futures. Microsoft’s shares are poised to get well all losses for the yr, whereas Meta’s shares stay down 3.7% year-to-date.
Microsoft’s Azure development accelerates
Microsoft’s core cloud enterprise—Azure and different associated providers—posted a 33% year-on-year development within the third quarter of its 2025 fiscal yr, accelerating from 31% within the earlier quarter. Wall Road had anticipated annual development of 29%.
The corporate attributed 16% of Azure’s quarterly development to AI providers, up from 13% within the previous quarter. CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged: “Cloud and AI are the important inputs for each enterprise to increase output, cut back prices, and speed up development,” including, “From AI infrastructure and platforms to apps, we’re innovating throughout the stack to ship for our clients.”
Microsoft kickstarted its AI management with a tens-of-billions-of-dollars funding in ChatGPT’s proprietor OpenAI in late 2023. It has additionally built-in AI instruments into its Workplace 365 suite and launched chatbot-style Copilot assistants. Greater than 15 million individuals at the moment are utilizing its GitHub Copilot assistant, quadrupling the determine from a yr in the past, in keeping with Nadella on the earnings name.
“We delivered a robust quarter with Microsoft Cloud income of $42.4 billion, up 20% (up 22% in fixed forex) year-over-year, pushed by continued demand for our differentiated choices,” mentioned Amy Hood, Microsoft’s government vp and chief monetary officer.
Whole income reached $70.1 billion (€62 billion), a 13% improve from the earlier yr. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) stood at $3.46 (€3.06), up 18% and comfortably exceeding the consensus forecast of $3.22 (€2.85). All main segments—Microsoft 365 industrial and shopper merchandise, LinkedIn, and Dynamics merchandise and cloud providers—posted double-digit development.
“This end result as soon as once more exhibits that Microsoft is not only using the AI wave; it’s driving it,” mentioned Josh Gilabert, market analyst at eToro Australia.
Nevertheless, Trump’s sweeping tariffs, launched in April, should have a lagging impact on Microsoft’s operations, although most had been reduce to 10% for nations aside from China.
Earlier in April, Microsoft scaled again a few of its international knowledge centre initiatives. “As AI demand continues to develop, and our knowledge centre presence continues to increase, the adjustments now we have made show the pliability of our technique,” an organization spokesman mentioned on the time. Nadella beforehand introduced that Microsoft goals to take a position $80 billion (€70.7 billion) in knowledge centre infrastructure in fiscal 2025, ending in June.
Quarterly capital expenditure, together with finance leases, amounted to $21.4 billion (€19 billion), a sequential decline for the primary time in two years.
Meta’s promoting income posts stable development, pushed by AI
Meta Platforms additionally posted robust outcomes, with complete income up 16% year-on-year to $42.31 billion (€37.41 billion), exceeding the anticipated $41.4 billion (€36.6 billion). Earnings per share rose 35% to $6.43 (€5.69), additionally effectively forward of forecasts for $5.28 (€4.67). Promoting income—accounting for 98% of Meta’s complete gross sales—got here in at $41.39 billion (€36.6 billion), once more beating analyst expectations.
“We’ve had a robust begin to an necessary yr—our group continues to develop, and our enterprise is performing very effectively,” mentioned CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “We’re making good progress on AI glasses and Meta AI, which now has virtually one billion month-to-month actives.” Meta AI is the agency’s standalone generative AI product, developed in competitors with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Zuckerberg added throughout the earnings name: “Our enterprise can be performing very effectively, and I feel we’re well-positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty.”
The corporate plans to ramp up spending on AI infrastructure, with capital expenditure anticipated to vary from $64 billion (€56.6 billion) to $72 billion (€63.7 billion), up from a previous forecast of $60 billion to $65 billion. “This up to date outlook displays extra knowledge centre investments to assist our synthetic intelligence efforts, in addition to a rise within the anticipated value of infrastructure {hardware}. The vast majority of our capital expenditures in 2025 will proceed to be directed to our core enterprise,” Meta famous in its earnings report.
Nevertheless, the corporate warned that the European Fee’s current regulatory choice might damage person expertise and influence its European income as early because the third quarter.