Microsoft’s AI business looks like a triumph. Its shares jumped after earnings last week, and the AI unit is growing fast. A new filing shows how much of that rests on a single partner.
Microsoft booked $24.1 billion in revenue from OpenAI during the year to June, Bloomberg reported. The company disclosed the figure in a filing last week. That is most of its AI business. By Bloomberg’s estimate, OpenAI is more than half of Microsoft’s actual AI sales, and probably around 70%.
It is the clearest picture yet, and the first time Microsoft has spelled the figure out. Investors have pressed the company on exactly this. One accounting researcher, Olga Usvyatsky, suggested the disclosure may be tied to OpenAI’s plans for an eventual listing.
How the 70% is built
The 70% is an estimate, not a hard number. Microsoft has only ever disclosed its total AI business twice. It did not update the figure at its latest earnings. Bloomberg assumed the unit kept growing at the 123% rate Microsoft reported in March. That would put the AI business around $34 billion for the year. Set the disclosed $24.1 billion against it, and OpenAI is roughly two thirds.
