Microsoft beats sales expectations on AI strength

Microsoft Corp beat Wall Street estimates for fiscal second-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as new artificial-intelligence features helped attract customers to its cloud and software services.

Microsoft shares were down 2% after-hours. The company, in collaboration with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, has pushed chatbots into its core products such as its Office software and Bing search engine over the past year, attracting business customers eager to try the tech industry’s next breakthrough. Investor buzz over AI helped Microsoft’s shares rise by 57% in 2023.

Its cloud-computing business – already the second-biggest behind that of Amazon.com – grew by nearly a third in the most recent quarter.