Microsoft reports 10% quarterly profit growth as it works to show AI investments paying off Boston 25 News [Video]

Microsoft said Wednesday that its profit for the October-December quarter grew 10% as it works to capitalize on the huge amounts of money it has spent to advance its artificial intelligence technology.

But while its overall profits and revenue beat Wall Street expectations, it slightly missed projections for its closely-watched cloud computing business, a centerpiece of its AI efforts.

The company reported net income for the quarter of $24.1 billion, or $3.23 per share, beating Wall Street expectations of $3.11 per share. The Redmond, Washington-based software maker posted revenue of $69.6 billion in the quarter, up 12% from the previous year, also beating expectations.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Microsoft to generate revenue of $68.87 billion in the last three months of the year.

Sales from Microsoft’s cloud-focused business segment that includes its flagship Azure computing platform grew 19% from the same time last year to $25.5 billion, which …