Microsoft reported revenue of $92.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, which ended on 30 September, up 19%. For the first time it gave Azure revenue in dollars: $33.2 billion, up 48%, while Microsoft Cloud as a whole reached $63.9 billion. The company also recorded about $10 billion in revenue from its commercial arrangements with OpenAI, almost 11% of the quarter. The results beat analysts' estimates.

What it means: The most interesting detail is not the growth but the new transparency. Until now Microsoft gave only growth rates for Azure, and publishing absolute figures finally allows a comparison with AWS and Google Cloud. The fact that roughly one in nine dollars of revenue comes from a single partnership, the one with OpenAI, shows how closely the company is tied to a customer that is also a competitor. For Greek businesses using Microsoft 365, Azure or Copilot, the picture cuts both ways. On one hand, demand for AI infrastructure remains strong, so the company will keep investing in new data centres and services, including in Europe. On the other, that same demand usually comes with price increases and bundles that include AI features whether the customer wants them or not. Anyone with contracts renewing in the coming months should check what they pay today, which licences are actually used and whether cheaper options exist for workloads that do not need AI at all.

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