Call it a tale of two Ms.
Meta and Microsoft both reported earnings on Wednesday, talking up their AI businesses and vowing to pump ever more astounding sums into the data centers and infrastructure that powers the technology.
Investors loved Meta, which
grew revenue an impressive 24% year-over-year, to $59.89 billion in the last three months of the year. The credit, the company said, goes to AI, which is helping Meta target users with content and ads more effectively than ever before. Meta forecast its AI-focused capital expenditures could rise to as much as $135 billion this year, nearly double the $72 billion it reported in 2025. Shares of Meta jumped 7.5% in response.
No such luck for Microsoft, which posted $81.3 billion in revenue, up 17% year-over-year and ahead of analyst expectations. Like Meta, Microsoft is investing aggressively in AI infrastructure: cap-ex was $37.5 billion in its fiscal second quarter, up from $34.9 billion in the preceding quarter. Investors were pickier with Microsoft though, finding fault with its Azure cloud business growing at a slightly slower pace than in previous quarters (despite the fact that it still grew a healthy 39%). Microsoft shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading.
—AO 