Nvidia became the first ever company to hit $4 trillion<\/a> in market value (and just earlier this month), and now Microsoft<\/a> is joining the AI chipmaker in the exclusive $4 trillion club.<\/p>\n Microsoft reported better-than-expected<\/a> earnings on Wednesday, causing shares to jump 8%, and elevating the company’s market capitalization to around $4.1 trillion. As of the time of writing, Microsoft sustained the growth with a market value of $4.03 trillion<\/a>, with shares up about 5% on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n Related: <\/b>Microsoft Executive Says Using AI Has Saved $500 Million in Productivity Costs, as the Company Conducts Mass Layoffs<\/a><\/p>\n Both Microsoft and fellow AI giant Meta added a combined $440 billion<\/a> in market value late Wednesday, with Meta’s earnings driving a 9% surge<\/a> in its market capitalization in after-hours trading. Both companies surpassed analyst expectations with strong financial results on Wednesday, revealing that Big Tech’s AI investments are paying off.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told investors<\/a> in an earnings call on Wednesday that the company planned to spend a record $30 billion<\/a> for the current quarter on AI expenses like data centers, more than the $24.23 billion<\/a> analysts expected.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s rally was due to the strength of its latest earnings report<\/a> for the quarter ending June 30, which the tech giant disclosed on Wednesday after the bell<\/a>. In the report, Microsoft revealed quarterly revenue of $76.4 billion, up 18% from the same period last year, marking the company’s fastest revenue growth in three years.<\/p>\n Related: <\/b>Microsoft’s CEO Says the Company’s Mass Layoffs, Despite Financial Success, Are ‘Weighing Heavily on Me’ in an Internal Memo<\/a><\/p>\n Analysts were expecting $74.62 billion<\/a> in Azure revenue, causing Microsoft’s report to exceed expectations.<\/p>\n The growth was largely driven by Microsoft’s Azure<\/a> cloud computing division, which provides computing power and storage for AI. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella<\/a> revealed Azure revenue for the first time in the report, noting that Azure “surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34%, driven by growth across all workloads.”<\/p>\n “Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector,” Nadella stated in the report.<\/p>\n Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the<\/i> <\/i>Level Up conference<\/i><\/a> to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.<\/i><\/sup>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.entrepreneur.com\/images\/misc\/1753974231_Satya-Nadella-GettyImages-2207864165.jpg?width=1000\")
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Stephen Brashear\/Getty Images<\/i><\/sup><\/p>\n