Microsoft shared Azure's revenue in dollars for the first time: $33.2 billion in one quarter. It shows how tight the race among cloud providers has become.
Microsoft has revealed, for the first time, how many dollars its Azure cloud business earns. The answer is $33.2 billion for the July to September quarter, up 48% from a year earlier. Until now, the company mostly shared only a growth percentage. The new number lets anyone compare Azure directly with its biggest rivals.
Azure is where businesses rent computing power instead of buying their own machines. Companies use it to run apps, to use software delivered over the internet, and to build and run AI models. Microsoft calls it its largest and fastest-growing product line. It made up about 36% of the company's $92.3 billion in total revenue for the quarter.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, also reported on Wednesday. Google Cloud brought in $30.7 billion in the same quarter, so Azure is slightly ahead. But Google Cloud grew faster. It roughly doubled its revenue from a year earlier, about twice Azure's pace, according to TechCrunch's calculations. Google Cloud also includes Google's Workspace subscriptions.
Azure also beat expectations. Analysts expected $32.3 billion, so the result came in about $850 million higher. Growth of 48% topped the 44% to 45% that Microsoft CFO Amy Hood forecast in July.
Microsoft also changed how it reports its business this quarter. It used to have three segments. It now has two new ones. Azure sits in a segment called Agents and Infra, along with the cloud side of Microsoft 365. That segment brought in $76.8 billion, up 25% from a year earlier.
If your company pays for cloud or AI tools, this is a sign of how much money is at stake. Big providers are competing hard for the same customers. That could lead to better deals and more features, though none of that is promised in the numbers. Still, it is worth knowing who you rent from and what rivals offer.
Amazon reports its earnings on Thursday. Its cloud business, Amazon Web Services, has long been the largest. Analysts expect it to grow, and no one expects Microsoft to pass it right now. But with all three companies now reporting in dollars, the race is easier to watch.
Microsoft's Azure now earns $33.2 billion a quarter, edging past Google Cloud, so cloud rivals are fighting hard for business customers.
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