Microsoft said the leases are primarily for data centres and will support AI demand for years, marking the software giant’s biggest quarterly expansion in data centre leasing.
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Microsoft Corp. reported more than $130 billion in new data center leases in the past quarter, signaling an accelerating pace of spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.The company’s total commitments for leases that have not yet commenced were $329.1 billion as of the quarter ended June 30, Microsoft said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. That’s up from $196.6 billion in the prior period.“That’s really a signal of the continued demand strength that we see,” Jonathan Neilson, Microsoft investor relations chief, said in an interview. “These leases are going to be there to serve demand for many many years.”The future costs, which come on top of active leases, won’t appear on Microsoft’s balance sheet until it begins making payments on them. The company said they are “primarily” for data centers and some are “subject to certain contractual conditions being met.”This represents Microsoft’s largest quarterly jump in data center leasing by far. The software giant continues to be held back by a lack of data center capacity after taking a pause on its leasing activity through much of 2025.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comPublished on July 30, 2026
