While thousands continue to face death and detention at the borders of Fortress Europe, tech giant Microsoft announced a record quarterly profit of $35.8 billion (€31.3bn), fueled by surging demand for its Azure cloud services and artificial intelligence investments. This immense accumulation of capital, celebrated by investors, underscores the stark global disparity where wealth flows freely across borders, while human beings seeking safety and opportunity are met with fences, biometric databases, and pushbacks. Microsoft shares surged by as much as 10% in pre-market trading on Thursday following the announcement.
Capital's Unfettered Flow
The technology giant reported its investment in artificial intelligence was paying off. For the July-September quarter, Microsoft expects revenue between $89.85bn (€78.5bn) and $90.95bn (€79.5bn), representing growth of 16% to 17%. It also forecast Azure revenue would grow by approximately 45% in constant currency, an increase from 43% in the quarter just ended. This upbeat outlook followed better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results.
Revenue rose 18% year-on-year to $90bn (€78.7bn) in the April-June period, surpassing the $87.6bn (€76.6bn) forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Net profit climbed 31% to its record $35.8bn (€31.3bn), a figure boosted by a $3.2bn (€2.8bn) unrealised gain on Microsoft’s investment in artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Diluted earnings per share reached $4.81 (€4.20), above analysts’ forecast of $4.24 (€3.71). Microsoft Cloud revenue hit $59.3bn (€51.9bn) in the quarter, up 27% year-on-year, with Azure and other cloud services revenue increasing by 43%. The company noted demand for Azure continued to exceed available capacity, despite bringing additional computing infrastructure online during the current quarter. For the full fiscal year ended this year in June, Microsoft reported $331.8bn (€289.9bn) in revenue.
“This year, Azure revenue surpassed $100bn (€87.4bn) for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats, reflecting the confidence customers are placing in us to power their AI transformation,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated on Wednesday. Michael J. Wolf, founder and CEO of Activate Consulting, observed that concurrent Azure and Copilot growth indicates Microsoft is “winning on both fronts.” He said Microsoft achieves this by “supplying the cloud infrastructure for enterprise AI while monetising the AI tools embedded in the products workers use every day.”
The Digital Infrastructure of Global Capitalism
Investors had sought evidence that Azure and Copilot, Microsoft’s flagship AI assistant, could eventually produce returns, as concerns about high AI spending have grown across the industry. Chief financial officer Amy Hood told investors that the company’s capital expenditure plans for the 2026 calendar year remain unchanged. An accounting change will bring that guidance closer to approximately $175bn (€152.9bn), Hood said, but expectations remain “unchanged.” Hood had stated earlier this year that the company expects to invest $190bn (€165.9bn) in capital expenditures in 2026. Bryan Hayes, an investment strategist at Zacks Investment Research, commented that “for the first time in three quarters, the market appears willing to grant that the spending is buying something real.” Danielle Criste, Microsoft’s director of investor relations, affirmed, “We remain very confident in the long-term return on these investments, given these strong demand signals, the increasing product usage we’ve seen and the efficiencies that we’re driving across the platform.”
Profits Amidst Human Crisis
Meanwhile, Meta Platforms reported its second-quarter profit declined even as revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations. The Facebook and Instagram parent company earned $15.85bn (€13.8bn) in the April-June period, down 14% from $18.34bn (€16bn) in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 28% to $60.8bn (€53.1bn) from $47.52bn (€41.5bn). Meta earned $6.18 (€5.40) per share, below the $7.19 (€6.30) expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet, who had forecast revenue of $60.22bn (€52.6bn). Total costs and expenses jumped 55% to $42.03bn (€36.7bn), including $2.4bn (€2.1bn) in charges related to legal proceedings and $1.18bn (€1.03bn) in severance expenses connected with Meta’s May workforce reduction this year. Its operating margin narrowed to 31% from 43% a year earlier. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, stated: “AI is accelerating our core business today, powering our next generation of products, and opening the door to entirely new enterprise opportunities. The results are already showing, and I’m optimistic about the potential ahead.” The relentless pursuit of profit and technological dominance by these corporations stands in stark contrast to the humanitarian crisis unfolding at Europe's borders, where the same global capitalist system criminalizes human movement while celebrating the unfettered flow of capital.