Microsoft shares surged 16% after stronger-than-expected guidance, robust Azure cloud growth and rising Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption eased concerns over AI spending. The company also forecast healthy cash generation, reinforcing investor confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy and cloud leadership.

Microsoft’s Azure grew 43% and passed $100bn for the year, its backlog hit $678bn, and the stock rose 2%. But AI capital spending keeps climbing.

July 29 : Microsoft topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly cloud revenue growth on Wednesday, a sign its massive spending on AI infrastructure was paying off as capacity…