10月28日：微软周三公布的季度云收入超出预期，表明其在人工智能领域的巨额投资开始见效，这正值华尔街对大型科技公司债务驱动的支出日益警惕之际。
Oct 28 : Microsoft surpassed expectations for quarterly cloud revenue on Wednesday, signaling that its hefty AI investments were paying off at a time Wall Street grows increasingly wary of Big Tech's debt-fueled spending.
这家软件和云计算公司的自由现金流在该季度也超出预期约100亿美元，因为AI基础设施支出低于预期，而收入却在增长。
The software and cloud company's free cash flow also exceeded expectations by about $10 billion in the quarter, as spending on AI infrastructure came in below estimates and revenue grew.
这使其区别于Alphabet和Meta等竞争对手，后者的自由现金流因巨额AI支出而受到挤压，迫使这些曾经现金充裕的公司增加借贷。
That sets it apart from rivals such as Alphabet and Meta, whose free cash flow has been squeezed by heavy AI spending, pushing the once cash-rich companies to borrow more.
总部位于华盛顿州雷德蒙德的微软股价在盘后交易中上涨约4%。截至周三收盘，该股今年以来已上涨约9%。
Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft were up about 4 per cent in extended trading. The stock has risen about 9 per cent so far this year, through Wednesday's close.
业绩还显示，微软正从企业对AI的需求中获利，缓解了人们对该技术威胁其软件业务以及其过度暴露于亏损的OpenAI的担忧。
The results also show Microsoft cashing in on corporate demand for AI, easing fears that the technology threatens its software business and that it is too exposed to unprofitable OpenAI.
近几个月来，首席执行官萨提亚·纳德拉试图通过超越OpenAI和Anthropic最强大的模型，来满足美国企业日益增长的AI需求及其不断上升的成本。随着企业对不断攀升的AI账单望而却步，微软发布了一系列更便宜的模型；其新推出的Copilot Cowork代理让用户可以在不同模型之间切换。
In recent months, CEO Satya Nadella has tried to meet corporate America's growing appetite for AI and its rising costs, by looking beyond the most powerful models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft has released a string of cheaper models as businesses balk at mounting AI bills; its new Copilot Cowork agent lets users switch between models.
纳德拉周三在一份声明中说：“通过帮助组织构建并拥有自己的智能，并通过代理的安全性赢得信任，我们正将创新转化为不断增长的采用率。”
"By helping organizations build and own their own intelligence, and earning trust through agent safety and security, we are translating our innovation into growing adoption," Nadella said in a statement on Wednesday.
Azure强劲增长 截至9月的第一财季，微软Azure云计算业务收入增长48%至331.7亿美元，高于Visible Alpha预估的328.4亿美元。上一季度Azure收入为294亿美元。
STRONG AZURE GROWTH Revenue at Microsoft's Azure cloud computing business grew 48 per cent to $33.17 billion in the first quarter ended September, topping Visible Alpha's estimates of $32.84 billion. Azure revenue came in at $29.4 billion in the prior quarter.
“微软的第一季度财报对于一家体量如此之大的公司来说，简直干净得不能再干净了，”Investing.com高级分析师杰西·科恩表示。“在Meta和Alphabet的财报重燃对AI支出的焦虑之后，这份财报成了平衡砝码。需求依然超过供应，商业积压订单巨大，回报终于开始体现在盈利和整体营收中。”上个月，微软决定以美元披露Azure营收，而不再仅公布增长率，从而提供了更清晰的图景，显示其云业务与亚马逊云服务和谷歌云相比如何。
"Microsoft's first-quarter report was about as clean as it gets for a company this size," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. "After Meta's and Alphabet's numbers revived AI-spending anxiety, this is the counterweight. Demand still exceeds supply, the commercial backlog is enormous, and returns are finally showing up in earnings and overall revenue." Last month, Microsoft decided to disclose Azure revenue in dollars, instead of just growth rates, offering a clearer picture of how its cloud business stacks up against rivals Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
本季度资本支出达452亿美元，高于上年同期的349亿美元。微软此前对第一季度资本支出的预测为500亿美元。
Capital expenditure for the quarter stood at $45.2 billion, up from $34.9 billion in the year-ago period. Microsoft's own projection for first-quarter capital expenditures was $50 billion.
公司报告自由现金流为186亿美元。根据Visible Alpha的数据，分析师预期自由现金流为85.4亿美元。
The company reported free cash flow of $18.6 billion. Analysts were expecting free cash flow of $8.54 billion, according to Visible Alpha.
微软投资者关系副总裁乔纳森·尼尔森将低于预期的资本支出归因于延迟，而非公司底层支出计划的任何变化。
Jonathan Neilson, Microsoft's vice president of investor relations, attributed the lower than expected capital expenditure to delays rather than any changes to the company's underlying spending plans.
“我们确实看到一些我们预期在第一季度交付的第三方产能实际上被推迟了，”尼尔森说。
"We did see some third-party capacity deliveries that we expected in first quarter were actually delayed," Neilson said.
总体而言，预计大型科技公司今年将投入超过7000亿美元用于建设数据中心，并获取开发和运行AI技术所需的硬件和能源。
Overall, Big Tech is expected to pump more than $700 billion this year into building data centers and securing the hardware and energy needed to develop and run AI technologies.
尽管这些公司营收增速加快表明其押注可能正在见效，但过去几周来，对融资这笔巨额支出成本的担忧已升温。
While faster revenue growth at these companies indicates their bets could be paying off, concerns over the cost of financing the outlay have heightened over the past few weeks.
包括新兴云服务商CoreWeave近期承压在内，美国科技公司现金流萎缩和债务负担上升，以及为Meta债务违约购买保险的成本创下历史新高，所有这些都加剧了市场动荡。
Shrinking cash flows and rising debt loads at US tech companies, including recent stress at neocloud CoreWeave, as well as record-high costs to insure Meta's debt against default have all added to market turmoil.
投资者上周抛售了 Meta 以及许多 AI 交易核心标的的股票，此前这家 Facebook 母公司上调了年度资本支出预测，并宣布计划发行新股以帮助为该支出提供资金。
Investors last week sold off shares in Meta and many stocks central to the AI trade after the Facebook parent raised its annual capital spending forecast and announced plans to sell new stock to help fund that spending.
周三早些时候，超大规模云服务商 Oracle 表示，预计资本支出将在本财年和下一财年达到峰值，但承诺到 2030 财年为止，为 AI 筹集的额外融资不超过 200 亿美元。
Earlier on Wednesday, hyperscaler Oracle said it expects capital spending to peak this fiscal year and next, but pledged to raise no more than $20 billion in additional financing for AI through fiscal 2030.
Microsoft 预测 2026 年的资本支出将达 1900 亿美元。这家科技巨头还面临压力，因为日益复杂的智能体 AI 工具正威胁其生产力软件业务。
Microsoft had forecast capital expenditure of $190 billion in 2026. The tech giant also faces pressure as increasingly sophisticated agentic AI tools threaten its productivity software business.
不过，一些分析师认为，Microsoft 稳健的资产负债表使其在 AI 支出上升之际相较于竞争对手具有优势。据 Truist 数据，即使 AI 交易板块的信用利差普遍走阔，该公司的 5 年期信用违约互换 —— 一种衡量市场感知违约风险的指标 —— 在科技巨头中依然最窄。
Some analysts, however, believe that Microsoft's strong balance sheet gives it an edge over rivals as AI spending rises. According to Truist, the company's 5-year credit default swaps — a measure of perceived default risk — remain the tightest among tech giants, even as spreads have widened across much of the AI trade.