Big Tech: AI, cloud demand lifts Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta

STORY: AI demand and cloud computing is giving Big Tech a boost.Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet both posted better-than-expected results Wednesday, for the latest quarter.Microsoft said its Azure cloud business grew 40%.Total revenue rose 18% to almost $78 billion, beating expectations by more than $2 billion.It marks the company's second major win this week, after a revised deal with OpenAI that lets it retain a big stake.Exclusive access to models behind ChatGPT has been key to Azure's rapid growth in recent quarters.Meanwhile, Alphabet raked in just over $100 billion in the latest quarter.It saw a revenue growth of more than a third for Google Cloud as demand surged from large businesses for AI-powered infrastructure and data analytics.Shares in Facebook-parent Meta slid, however, after it recorded a near-$16 billion one-time charge linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful bill.That ate into its profit - which would have been $18.6 billion excluding the charge.Meta recorded revenue growth of 26% in the last quarter, beating estimates.But cost increases in the quarter outpaced the jump.Despite fears of a bubble, all three tech giants are splurging on AI.Google, Microsoft and Meta are all bumping up predictions of capital expenditure this year.After a late start, Meta has doubled down on its target to achieve "superintelligence" - a theoretical milestone where machines outthink humans.To reach that goal, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend hundreds of billions of dollars.

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