MICROSOFT TO BOOST CAPEX SHARPLY NEXT YEAR

Jaluria, managing director of software equity research at RBC Capital Markets, characterized Microsoft's latest earnings report as "fantastic" during an appearance on Bloomberg The Close. The analyst projects very high growth in capital expenditures for the next fiscal year. The forecast reflects continued heavy investment likely tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure and cloud computing expansion. Microsoft has been scaling its data center capacity to meet demand for AI services, including its partnership with OpenAI and integration of AI features across its product suite. The strong quarterly performance and anticipated capex increases underscore Microsoft's positioning as a major player in the AI infrastructure race, competing alongside other tech giants investing heavily in computing resources to support next-generation AI applications.