Microsoft has long kept Azure's quarterly revenue to itself, sharing only growth percentages and vague milestones. That changed Wednesday, when the company reported that Azure pulled in $33.2 billion during the July–September quarter, a 48% jump from a year earlier.

The disclosure lets investors compare Azure directly with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, whose parent companies already report cloud revenue in dollars each quarter. Alphabet, which also posted earnings Wednesday, said Google Cloud brought in $30.7 billion in the same quarter — slightly behind Azure. Google Cloud, which includes Workspace subscriptions, grew about twice as fast as Azure, according to TechCrunch's calculations.

Azure, where businesses rent computing power to run applications and build AI models, is now Microsoft's largest and fastest-growing product line by its own figures, accounting for roughly 36% of the company's $92.3 billion in quarterly revenue. The result beat the $32.3 billion analysts expected and topped the 44% to 45% growth Microsoft CFO Amy Hood had forecast on the company's July earnings call.

Azure sits inside Agents and Infra, one of two new business segments Microsoft introduced this quarter, replacing its previous three-segment structure. The new segment, which groups Azure with Microsoft 365's cloud business, brought in $76.8 billion, up 25% from a year earlier.

Amazon reports earnings Thursday, with analysts expecting growth at AWS. No one expects Microsoft to overtake the long-dominant AWS right now — but with actual dollar figures now on the table, the race is easier to watch.

Source: TechCrunch