On January 30th, tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, disclosed their earnings for the previous quarter, showcasing remarkable developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.
Throughout the past year, AI has dominated the tech industry, culminating in a global market size of $196.6 billion in 2023.
Microsoft and Google emerged as leaders in AI development, both introducing advanced chatbots.
Microsoft’s end-of-year results were marked by a surge in sales, largely attributed to their AI tools. Their revenue climbed 18% year-on-year from September to December, surpassing $60 billion.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO, emphasized the company’s AI progress, stating, “We’ve moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale.
By integrating AI throughout our tech stack, we are attracting new customers and enhancing productivity across all sectors.”
These results propelled Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable public company, with a market value of $3 trillion, surpassing Apple.
In addition to AI, Microsoft’s cloud computing service, Azure, reported a 30% year-on-year revenue increase, exceeding industry analysts’ expectations.
The company’s Q4 profits surged by 33% year-on-year, totaling $21.9 billion. Microsoft entered 2024 by launching the pro version of its AI chatbot, Copilot, featuring custom GPT creation and Office integration.
However, the company also faced a significant copyright lawsuit against The New York Times, alongside OpenAI.
Alphabet also attributed its Q4 success to AI integrations.
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Sundar Pichai, the company’s CEO, expressed satisfaction with the performance of Google Search, YouTube, and Cloud, all benefiting from AI investments and innovation.
Alphabet reported consolidated revenue of $86 billion for Q4, a 13% year-over-year increase.
Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer, emphasized Alphabet’s commitment to “durably re-engineer our cost base” to support new growth opportunities.
Despite its achievements, Google initiated the year by announcing job cuts to achieve ambitious AI-related goals.
In January 2023, the company unveiled plans to reduce its global workforce by 6%, ultimately laying off 182,381 employees worldwide by September 2023.
Nevertheless, Google’s year began with the launch of Lumiere, a realistic AI text-to-video generator.
Utilizing a time-space diffusion model, Lumiere transforms text and images into lifelike AI-generated videos, offering on-demand editing capabilities.
In summary, Microsoft and Alphabet’s recent earnings reports highlight their significant strides in AI and cloud computing, underscoring their pivotal roles in shaping the tech landscape.
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