Investors concerned about the substantial expenses major technology firms are incurring in artificial intelligence didn't find much comfort from Microsoft after it revealed its latest financial performance on Wednesday. In its recent quarter, which concluded on December 31, Microsoft accelerated its efforts to expand data centers that support cloud computing and artificial intelligence, spending $22. 6 billion on capital expenditures—almost double the amount spent a year prior. The company has announced plans to invest approximately $80 billion in data centers by the end of its fiscal year in June, driven by the need to enhance its capacity to satisfy increasing customer demand for AI and cloud services. This high level of spending coincided with strong overall growth in both profits and revenues for the tech giant. Revenue reached $69. 6 billion, reflecting a 12 percent increase year-over-year, while profit climbed 10 percent to $24. 1 billion. These results surpassed Wall Street expectations as well as Microsoft's own forecasts. "As AI becomes more efficient and accessible, we will see exponentially more demand, " said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, during a call with investors. Concerns regarding AI expenditures by large tech firms intensified after a Chinese start-up, DeepSeek, surprised Wall Street this week with an advanced AI system developed at a fraction of the power and cost compared to what leading tech companies have invested. Thank you for your understanding as we verify access.

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