The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, July 30, edition that Microsoft topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly cloud revenue growth on Wednesday, a sign its massive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure was paying . A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that revenue at its Azure cloud-computing business rose 43 per cent in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of 39.98 per cent. Chief executive officer Satya Nadella says, "This year, Azure revenue surpassed $100-billion (U.S.) 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." Strong growth may alleviate concerns for Microsoft, which faces pressures from rising data-centre costs and fears that AI could impact its productivity software. This comes after Google Cloud's impressive quarter, reporting an 82-per-cent surge in cloud revenue, surpassing expectations. Microsoft has forecast spending $190-billion (U.S.) this calendar year, part of the more than $700-billion (U.S.) in unprecedented Big Tech outlays that have strained the companies' cash flows and stoked fears of capacity overbuild.