Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion on data centers for artificial intelligence workloads, with over half of the investment taking place in the US. The company’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith, said the US is leading the global AI race due to private capital investments and innovative companies.
The move comes as several top tech firms are rushing to invest in Nvidia graphics processing units for training and running AI models. Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI and provides cloud infrastructure to the startup, which has sparked a generative AI trend among companies.
In its first quarter of fiscal 2025, Microsoft reported $20 billion in capital expenditures, with $14.9 billion spent on property and equipment. Analysts expect 42% year-over-year growth, driven by an increase in Azure revenue from 33%.
Smith called on the incoming administration to protect the US’s leadership in AI through education and promoting American AI technologies abroad. He warned that China is offering subsidies for developing countries to access its AI platform, which could lead to reliance on the Chinese platform in the future.
Microsoft will focus on promoting American AI as a superior alternative to compete with the growing competition. The company aims to ensure a swift and effective response to promote US AI capabilities.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/03/microsoft-expects-to-spend-80-billion-on-ai-data-centers-in-fy-2025.html