Google and Microsoft released their latest financial reports at the same time, and the two CEOs mentioned "AI" a total of 145 times

the same day! The world's two largest technology giants, Google and Microsoft, released their latest financial reports. Artificial intelligence (AI), as the biggest hot spot in the technology field in the past year, and the huge amount of money invested by the two companies in the AI business, AI has naturally become the focus of the most attention before the financial report is announced. According to statistics, in conference calls with analysts, the CEOs of the two companies mentioned the word "AI" a total of 145 times.

Microsoft's earnings performance:

Microsoft's fiscal year 2023 Q4 revenue growth slowed down, Q4 revenue increased by 8% to $56.2 billion, down from 12% in the same period last year. Microsoft's cloud computing business, which has been its growth engine for many years, has been affected by concerns about the health of the global economy. The growth rate of its cloud computing business fell from 50% in the boom period to 26%. The speed is 27%. This is mainly due to the reduction in cloud computing spending by enterprises due to the current global economic downturn.

Despite this, Microsoft's investment and development in the field of artificial intelligence has continued to grow steadily. Its Azure OpenAI has 11,000 customers, and it is expected that the revenue growth rate of Azure in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 will be 25% to 26%. In addition, Microsoft plans to continue investing in its AI business, with intelligent cloud revenue expected to be $23.3 billion to $23.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

Alphabet earnings performance:

Alphabet's earnings are now improving in the second quarter of 2023, with its revenue rising 7% year-over-year to $74.6 billion. Google's cloud computing unit, a central part of its AI strategy, posted $8 billion in revenue, up 28% year-over-year. Additionally, Alphabet expects investments in its technology infrastructure to continue ramping up in the second half of the year and continue growing in 2024.

The company also plans to continue investing and growing in artificial intelligence, with 80% of its advertisers using at least one AI-powered search product, and ads will be displayed alongside AI search results.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said,

Google's continued leadership in artificial intelligence and excellence in engineering and innovation are driving the next evolution of search and improving all of its services. And the next-generation operating system, Android 14, will include generative AI tools.

The battle for king between Microsoft and Google will continue

Even though Microsoft and Alphabet are both facing the challenges of the global economic downturn, their earnings performance is still different. The growth rate of Microsoft's cloud computing business has declined, but its investment and development in the field of AI is still growing steadily. In contrast, Alphabet's cloud computing business is growing well, and its investment and development in the field of AI is also continuing to advance. Although the two companies have regarded AI as the core of future growth in the past period, as far as the current financial report is concerned, the growth brought about by AI has not been fully reflected in the financial report.

However, Microsoft's investment in the AI field has not been reflected in the financial report. Microsoft has launched many new AI products in the past period of time, but the current figures do not reflect the great impact of AI on revenue, which is expected to be in the next financial report. reflect.

Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in a conference call,

The main driver of future growth is support for the AI space, including investments in graphics processors, proprietary TPUs, and data center capacity. Investment in technology infrastructure is expected to continue increasing in the second half of the year and continue to grow in 2024. The largest capex in the second quarter was for servers and AI computing.

In the field of AI, both Microsoft and Alphabet are constantly exploring and developing new technologies to improve the competitiveness of their products. Microsoft says it has 11,000 customers for its Azure OpenAI product, while 80% of Alphabet's advertisers use at least one AI-powered search product. In addition, Alphabet plans to continue to invest and develop in the field of AI to drive the growth of its business.

Overall, both Microsoft and Alphabet are looking for growth opportunities in AI, and their earnings reports reflect that. Although they face different challenges and opportunities, their long-term development strategies will all focus on investment and development in the field of AI.