Microsoft just shared Azure’s actual revenue in dollars: $33.2 billion

Microsoft revealed Azure’s quarterly revenue in dollars for the first time. Azure brought in $33.2 billion during the July-September quarter. That ended Microsoft’s usual practice of reporting only a growth rate or describing revenue milestones vaguely.

The disclosure also showed stronger-than-expected performance. Azure’s revenue was about $850 million above analysts’ $32.3 billion forecast. Its 48% growth rate also exceeded the 44% to 45% range Microsoft CFO Amy Hood had forecast in July.

The new figure gives investors a clearer view of Azure’s size. It represented roughly 36% of Microsoft’s total quarterly revenue of $92.3 billion. It also allows direct comparisons with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, which already report quarterly cloud revenue in dollars.

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud business, where companies rent computing power instead of relying entirely on their own equipment. The article identifies it as a place for businesses to run applications, operate SaaS products, and build or run artificial intelligence models.

For example, a business can use Azure’s computing resources to host an application or support an AI model. The company pays for access to computing capacity supplied through Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, rather than treating Azure as a traditional packaged software product.

This makes Azure central to Microsoft’s growth. It is now the company’s largest and fastest-growing product line by its own figures. Azure generated $33.2 billion in the quarter and sat inside the new Agents and Infra segment, which also includes Microsoft 365’s cloud business.

Azure was slightly larger than Google Cloud in reported revenue during the July-September quarter. Microsoft recorded $33.2 billion for Azure, while Alphabet reported $30.7 billion for Google Cloud. That placed Azure ahead by roughly $2.5 billion.

The comparison became possible because Microsoft disclosed Azure’s revenue in dollars. Before this quarter, Microsoft generally shared only growth percentages or vague revenue milestones. Google Cloud already reported quarterly revenue in dollar terms, although its figure includes Google’s Workspace subscriptions as well as cloud services.

Azure’s lead did not mean it was growing faster. Google Cloud roughly doubled its revenue from a year earlier and grew about twice as fast as Azure, according to TechCrunch’s calculations. Microsoft’s Azure growth rate was 48%, while Google Cloud’s was approximately twice that pace.

Azure’s revenue increased 48% from the same quarter a year earlier. That was a strong result and exceeded Microsoft’s own forecast of 44% to 45%. It also beat analysts’ expectations for the quarter.

Google Cloud grew much faster. Alphabet said Google Cloud roughly doubled its revenue from a year earlier. TechCrunch’s calculations described that pace as about twice Azure’s growth rate. Google Cloud’s reported revenue includes Google’s Workspace subscriptions, not just cloud infrastructure services.

The contrast shows why revenue size and growth rate tell different stories. Azure was slightly larger in dollars, at $33.2 billion versus Google Cloud’s $30.7 billion. Yet Google Cloud was expanding faster. Microsoft therefore had a current scale advantage, while Google showed stronger year-over-year momentum.

Reporting Azure revenue in dollars gives investors a clear measure of its size. Microsoft had typically disclosed only a growth percentage or vague revenue milestones. A dollar figure makes it easier to compare Azure directly with other major cloud businesses.

For example, Alphabet reported $30.7 billion for Google Cloud in the same quarter. Microsoft’s $33.2 billion Azure figure could therefore be placed beside Google Cloud’s result, showing Azure slightly ahead. Amazon reports Amazon Web Services revenue in dollars as well.

The change makes cloud competition easier to track across companies. Investors can compare revenue totals, growth rates, and forecasts using the same basic measure. Azure exceeded both analysts’ expectations and Microsoft’s forecast, while Amazon remained the largest cloud provider described in the article. Amazon’s next earnings report was due Thursday.

Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud are competing cloud platforms. They provide businesses with access to computing power used for applications, software delivered online, and artificial intelligence models. The article calls this a race among the major cloud providers.

Their core mechanism is similar: companies use computing resources supplied through a provider’s infrastructure instead of depending only on their own systems. Providers compete for that spending by offering the capacity businesses need to run software and develop AI. Azure’s reported revenue reached $33.2 billion, while Google Cloud reached $30.7 billion.

Amazon Web Services remained the largest cloud provider, and the article said Microsoft was not expected to overtake it immediately. Still, dollar reporting sharpens the contest. Investors can compare revenue and growth directly, while Amazon’s upcoming earnings report could show how its cloud business performed.

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources supplied by a provider rather than operating all of them directly. In the article, Azure is described as a service where businesses rent computing power. They use it to run applications, SaaS products, and AI models.

A company might place an application or AI workload on a cloud provider’s infrastructure. The provider supplies the underlying computing capacity, while the company uses that capacity for its work. In general, renting can help companies avoid building and maintaining every server themselves, though the article does not discuss costs or technical trade-offs.

This model makes cloud infrastructure a major business. Azure generated $33.2 billion in the quarter, while Google Cloud generated $30.7 billion. Amazon Web Services remained the largest cloud provider. The providers are competing for businesses’ computing and AI workloads as demand grows.