Microsoft announced on Wednesday that annual revenue for its flagship cloud platform Azure surged 34% to $75 billion. The Azure business remains at the core of Microsoft’s strategic pivot towards artificial intelligence playing a key role in driving its AI-focused growth. Microsoft Q1 Results The software giant said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was $34.3 billion or $3.65 per share beating analyst expectations for $3.37 per share. It posted revenue of $76.4 billion in the April-June period up 18 per cent from last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been looking for revenue of $73.86 billion. Microsoft’s Massive Layoffs Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were “weighing heavily” on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the companys mission for an AI era. Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street especially as Microsoft and other tech giants are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centres chips and other components required to power AI technology. Google said after releasing its earnings last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon. (With Inputs From Agencies)