Microsoft reached a significant milestone of $4 trillion in stock market value, becoming the second publicly traded company, following Nvidia, to achieve this landmark after a notable earnings report that highlighted the substantial returns on its investments in AI.
The strong performances from Microsoft and Meta Platforms late on Thursday also drove gains in Amazon and propelled chipmaker Nvidia to a record high, contributing to a combined increase of over half a trillion dollars in market value among these four dominant players in the AI sector. According to LSEG data, Wall Street’s leading entities in AI—Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms—now represent a quarter of the S&P 500.
Microsoft has projected a record $30 billion in capital expenditures for the first quarter of the current fiscal year to satisfy the surging demand for AI. The company reported remarkable sales growth in its Azure cloud computing division and noted that its Copilot AI tools have exceeded 100 million monthly active users. Microsoft’s shares were last up 4.5 percent after rising as much as 8 percent.
Meta Platforms has also made significant strides in its AI goals, forecasting quarterly revenue that exceeded Wall Street projections as artificial intelligence invigorated its core advertising segment. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft initially reached a $1 trillion stock market value in 2019. Its ascent to $3 trillion was more gradual compared to Nvidia and Apple’s rapid growth, with AI-bellwether Nvidia tripling its value in just about a year and achieving the $4 trillion milestone on July 9. Apple is currently valued at $3.12 trillion.
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Intelligent cloud segment achieves nearly $30 billion
Since first attaining a $1 trillion valuation in April 2019, Microsoft has strategically evolved into a leader in cloud infrastructure and AI, maintaining profitability and cash flow despite considerable capital expenditures.
The remarkable financial results indicate an 18 percent revenue growth rate—Microsoft’s fastest expansion in over three years—primarily fueled by Azure and its cloud services. The Intelligent Cloud segment alone generated nearly $30 billion in quarterly revenue. The company continues to harness its partnership with OpenAI and develop proprietary AI models such as the Phi family and the advanced MAI-01. OpenAI reportedly generates approximately $10 billion in recurring revenue, heavily relying on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.
The results underscores Microsoft’s strategic focus on embedding AI across its enterprise and consumer offerings, backed by ambitious capital investment plans that could exceed $120 billion over the coming year. The market response reflects not only the robust growth in cloud and AI but also confidence in Microsoft’s capacity to lead and take advantage of the ongoing AI revolution, alongside other tech giants.
