The increased demand for Microsoft’s artificial intelligence products in the later months of 2023 caused a stream in the company’s sales. According to the corporation, revenue increased by nearly 18% to exceed $60 billion between September and December.
The news was released after Microsoft beat Apple to become the most valuable listed business in the world, with a market value of over $3 trillion (£2.4 trillion) this month. AI is being utilized “at scale” by Microsoft, according to CEO Satya Nadella.
Microsoft revealed the results to the investors in the quarterly update. It solidifies the company’s position as a leader in the computer industry as businesses scramble to capitalize on the next wave of development predicted to be brought about by advances in artificial intelligence.
The tech giant owns a notable portion of OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT bot. It happened after the 2022 release of the company, which sparked a surge of enthusiasm about the potential of emerging technologies.
However, the growth of the company is filled with multiple controversies. New York Times (A US journalistic company) uses OpenAI because the system’s training violated its copyright.
Microsoft was named as a defendant in a lawsuit, which claimed the companies should pay “billions of dollars” in damages. Large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, “learn” by evaluating vast amounts of data. Most of the data is sourced through online analysis.
Microsoft is adding artificial intelligence-assisted tools for coding, among other uses, to its business software and other products. In November, Copilot went on sale. If someone is unable to attend, the program can recap team meetings. In addition, Copilot can draft emails, word processing files, spreadsheet graphs, and PowerPoint presentations.
According to Mr. Nadella, these new additions are a very successful move for them as they are paying off both in gaining more profits and winning new customers. Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing sales increased 30% year over year, which is better than expected. Investors keep a careful eye on these sales.
The quarter’s total earnings increased yearly 33% every year to $21.9 billion. Alphabet is the company that owns YouTube and Google. It is also focusing on developing an artificial intelligence strategy. On Tuesday, the company provided an update to investors.
Alphabet announced profits of around $20.7 billion for the September-December quarter, up 13% from $13.6 billion in the same period the previous year. CEO Sundar Pichai claimed that efforts in AI were also helping the company’s YouTube, cloud computing, and search services. It is how they were able to earn more profits than before.
Even with the profits, both businesses have kept their workforces small. Google has slashed almost 5% of its workforce since the previous year, and it revealed further layoffs this month.
Microsoft also revealed plans to reduce 1,900 jobs, or 9% of the workforce, in its gaming segment. The action came after Activision Blizzard, the company behind the video games Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, was fully acquired by the company.
