周三微软和谷歌发布的财报信息量巨大，这两家公司长期以来分别是云计算领域的第二和第三大玩家。但先说最引人注目的收获：得益于谷歌自家 AI 芯片——张量处理单元（TPU）的销售，谷歌云业务收入已逼近微软 Azure 云业务收入。对于还记得不久前谷歌在云计算领域还是“陪跑角色”的人来说，这是一个相当惊人的发展。
There was a lot to digest from Wednesday’s earnings reports from Microsoft and Google, long the No. 2 and 3 players in cloud computing, respectively. But let’s start with the most interesting takeaway: Google’s cloud unit revenues are now within spitting distance of Microsoft’s Azure cloud revenues, thanks in part to Google’s sales of its AI chips, known as tensor processing units. For those of us who remember the days not long ago when Google was an also-ran in cloud, that’s a pretty stunning development.
不过我们有点跑题了。谷歌云计算业务第三季度的强劲增长，被其他令华尔街分析师失望的财务数据所掩盖，尤其是谷歌搜索广告收入增长疲软。谷歌股价在盘后交易中下跌近 10%。与此同时，微软的增长更受投资者青睐，推动其股价在盘后交易中上涨约 3%（今年以来微软股价上涨 12%，而谷歌仅上涨 2%）。
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The stellar third-quarter growth in Google’s cloud computing business was overshadowed by other financial results that disappointed Wall Street analysts, particularly weak growth in Google’s search advertising revenues. Google’s stock dropped nearly 10% in after-hours trading. Microsoft’s growth, meanwhile, played better with investors, sending its stock up about 3% in after-hours trading (Microsoft shares are up 12% for the year, compared to 2% for Google).
首先来看谷歌的数据。这家搜索巨头的母公司 Alphabet 报告称，营收同比增长 25% 至 1275.8 亿美元，略低于华尔街预期。由于在 AI 上的巨额支出，公司录得超过 90 亿美元的自由现金流净流出，而去年同期则是超过 240 亿美元的自由现金流净流入。
First, let’s look at Google’s numbers. Alphabet, the search giant’s parent company, reported a 25% jump in revenue to $127.58 billion, which fell slightly short of Wall Street forecasts. Due to its enormous spending on AI, the company showed negative free cash flow of over $9 billion compared to positive free cash flow of over $24 billion in the same period a year ago.
最令部分投资者担忧的数字是谷歌的搜索收入，同比增长 12% 至 633.5 亿美元——这是自 2025 年第二季度以来该业务最疲软的增速。这些结果似乎与“人们使用谷歌搜索的频率前所未有的高”这一事实相悖。Alphabet 首席执行官桑达尔·皮查伊表示，谷歌的同比搜索查询增长率达到五年来最高，他将其归功于公司在 AI 上的投入。
The figures that seemed to alarm some investors the most were Google’s search revenues, which grew 12% to $63.35 billion—the softest growth in the business since the second quarter of 2025. Those results seemed discordant with the fact that people are using Google search more than ever. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Google’s year-over-year search query growth rate is the highest it has been in five years, which he attributed to the company’s AI investments.
但目前，谷歌在其 AI 模式（即 AI 驱动的搜索结果）中展示的广告数量，并不像通常那样多。“值得注意的是，AI 模式查询的强劲增长产生了影响，因为我们在 AI 模式中看到的变现率较低，”谷歌首席商务官 Philipp Schindler 在与分析师的电话会议上表示，以解释这一差异。
But for the moment, Google isn’t showing as many ads in AI Mode, its AI-powered search results, as it typically does. “It’s worth noting the strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI Mode,” Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said on a call with analysts, in explaining the disconnect.
尽管如此，谷歌云的业绩依然令人瞩目。该业务本季度收入翻倍多，达到 300 亿美元以上，而其运营利润则增至 111.2 亿美元。这一收入数字仅略低于微软同期 330 亿美元的 Azure 收入，后者增长了 48%。如果谷歌云保持其更高的增长率，其业务规模很快就会超过 Azure。
Still, there were those Google Cloud results to admire. Revenue from that business more than doubled in the quarter to over $30 billion, while the unit’s operating income tripled to $11.12 billion. That revenue figure was just shy of Microsoft’s $33 billion in Azure revenues for the period, which grew 48%.
当然，这种比较并不完全是“苹果对苹果”（完全可比）。谷歌云收入包含一个蓬勃发展的服务器硬件业务，通过该业务，该部门向客户销售 TPU 系统，客户将这些芯片部署在自己的数据中心中。谷歌并未披露本季度 TPU 销售的确切数额，但表示它们是“收入增长的重要贡献者”。谷歌高管让分析师预期，TPU 销售明年对谷歌云的影响将更大。
If Google Cloud keeps up its superior growth rate, it won’t be long before the business is bigger than Azure. Of course, the comparison isn’t totally apples-to-apples. Google Cloud revenues include a burgeoning server hardware business , through which the unit sells TPU systems to customers that put the chips in their own data centers.
“我们看到非凡的需求，”谷歌云首席执行官 Thomas Kurian 对他们表示。微软：少即是多上个月，微软宣布改革其业务板块季度业绩的报告方式，首席执行官 Satya Nadella 承诺将提高“透明度”。然而今天，上几个季度曾披露的一个数字——其旗舰 Copilot AI 软件的付费用户数量——却明显缺席了。
Google didn’t disclose exactly what its TPU sales were in the quarter, though it did say they were a “meaningful contributor to revenue growth.”Google executives primed analysts to expect TPU sales to have an even bigger impact on Google Cloud next year.
此前，公司曾表示，截至 6 月底，Copilot 付费用户达 3000 万，高于 2025 年底的 1500 万。这些客户每人每月支付 30 美元，以便在 Office 和 Teams 软件中使用 Copilot，这笔费用是在它们单独为这些应用支付的费用之外的。
“We’re seeing extraordinary demand,” Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud’s CEO, told them. Less is More at Microsoft Last month, when Microsoft announced it was overhauling how it reports its business segments’ quarterly results, CEO Satya Nadella promised “increased transparency.”
这一强劲增长确立了微软作为仅次于OpenAI的第二大AI软件销售商的地位，并有助于缓解部分投资者的担忧，即微软的核心企业软件业务是否能从其飙升的AI支出中获得回报。微软决定停止披露这一数字，引发了一个问题：Copilot订阅的增长是否仍像过去那样强劲。
Today though, one figure they had disclosed in the prior quarters—the number of paying users of its flagship Copilot AI software—was conspicuously absent. Previously, the company had said it had 30 million paying users of Copilot as of the end of June, up from 15 million at the end of 2025.
对微软而言，好消息是其融合了AI的软件业务似乎依然强劲。其365商业云部门营收——其中包括Copilot以及其更广泛的Office软件套件销售——增长17%至277亿美元，增速较6月季度略有加快。总营收在9月季度增长19%至923亿美元，增速比上一季度快1个百分点。
Those customers each pay a $30 per month fee to use Copilot in its Office and Teams software, on top of fees they pay separately for those applications. That solid growth planted Microsoft’s flag as the second-biggest seller of AI software after OpenAI , and helped assuage some investors’ concerns about whether Microsoft’s core enterprise software business was getting returns from its ballooning AI spending.
微软可能还有其他理由希望投资者减少对Copilot按席位订阅增长的关注。该公司于上月下旬对Copilot软件进行了彻底改版，将各项功能整合在一个应用程序下；此举部分原因是为了引导Copilot用户使用更新的功能，如与Meta的Muse及氛围编码工具竞争的智能体，这些功能按使用量付费计费。换句话说，微软现在试图让更多Copilot营收增长来自用户更频繁地使用软件，而不仅仅来自销售更多席位。
The company’s decision to stop disclosing the figure raises the question of whether Copilot subscriptions are growing as robustly as they had in the past. The good news for Microsoft is that its AI-infused software business still seems to be strong .
纳德拉在周三与分析师的电话会议上反复强调这一点，称在9月季度，为Copilot按使用量付费功能买单的客户数量增长了75%，首席财务官Amy Hood表示，得益于按使用量付费AI工具使用量的增加，平均每用户营收实现了增长。
Revenue in its 365 Commercial Cloud unit—which includes Copilot as well as sales of its broader suite of Office software—rose 17% to $27.7 billion, a slight acceleration from the June quarter.
微软能否维持其AI软件营收增长将更具指示意义，尤其是在它开始在与OpenAI和Anthropic等竞争对手的更广泛定价战中，对该软件提供更大幅度的按席位折扣之际。其他新闻苹果推出了其首款触控屏电脑——配备 PROLED XDR 显示屏的 MacBook Pro，起售价为 2899 美元。这比其最新款无触控屏 MacBook Pro 的起售价 1999 美元高出一大截。
Overall revenue rose 19% to $92.3 billion in the September quarter, 1 percentage point faster than the growth it reported in the prior quarter. There are other reasons Microsoft might want to get investors to pay less attention to the growth of per-seat subscriptions of Copilot. The company overhauled its Copilot software late last month to combine various features under one application; part of the reason for the change was to steer Copilot users towards newer features like agents that compete with Meta’s Muse and vibe-coding tools, which are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
甲骨文提供了其资本支出将开始放缓的时间表，将 2028 财年和 2029 财年描述为“资本支出峰值期”。该公司表示，其自由现金流将在 2028 财年转正，并在 2029 财年超过 300 亿美元。甲骨文股价上涨 10%。
谷歌发布了 Gemini 4 Carbon，这是该公司一个月内的第二次重大模型发布。
In other words, Microsoft is now trying to get more Copilot revenue growth to come from people using the software more, rather than just from selling additional seats.
消息人士透露，Marvell 正在就收购数据中心光学器件制造商 Lumentum 进行深度谈判。今日 The Information TITV观看今日 TITV 节目，Akash Pasricha 与 Catherine Perloff 对谈，内容涉及她关于亚马逊如何应对 AI 代理导致的去中介化风险的报道。推荐通讯用 Applied AI 通讯开启新一天，这是 The Information 推出的通讯，深度揭秘领先企业如何利用 AI 全面实现任务自动化。
Nadella hammered this point during Wednesday’s call with analysts, stating that the number of customers paying for usage-based features in Copilot grew 75% in the September quarter, and CFO Amy Hood said average revenue per user grew thanks to increased use of the pay-as-you-go AI tools. Whether Microsoft can keep its AI software revenue growth going will be more telling, especially as it starts to offer steeper per-seat discounts on the software in a broader pricing war with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic.
立即免费 。记者新作WTF：科技、媒体与金融领域的女性CBS 的 Bari Weiss 对批评者说：“以新闻作品评判我们”文 / Jessica E. Lessin 和 Laura Bratton“毫无准备”：AI 发现的漏洞引发企业安全支出热潮独家亚马逊以 2.5 亿外部商品列表对冲 AI 购物代理风险即将举办的活动11 月 9 日周三 —— The Information 与 EY 咨询在旧金山举办的私密晚宴信任正迅速成为 AI 时代的核心命题。
In Other News Apple launched its first touchscreen computer, the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, which will start at $2,899. That’s a steep premium to its latest MacBook Pro without a touchscreen, which starts at $1,999.
晚宴上，The Information 创始人兼总编辑 Jessica Lessin 与 EY 美洲副主席兼咨询业务负责人 Whitt Butler 将坦诚探讨领导者如何建立并维护信任。申请受邀。11 月 10 日周四 —— 通往 IPO 的漫漫长路参加The Information与NYSE联合举办的鸡尾酒招待会，共同探讨企业上市真正需要哪些准备。活动由The Information的达金·坎贝尔主持。
Oracle provided a roadmap for when its capital expenditures will begin to slow, describing fiscal 2028 and 2029 as a “period of peak capex.”The company’s free cash flow will turn positive in fiscal 2028 and exceed $30 billion in fiscal 2029, it said. Oracle’s shares rose 10%.
座谈将探讨企业与顾问、投资者和交易所高管之间需要建立的信任、关系和筹备工作，以及创始人和高管在此过程中必须应对的诸多复杂问题。本次活动由NYSE赞助，欢迎申请参加。我们在读什么肯尼迪将允许广泛使用未经批准的肽类注射剂
Google launched Gemini 4 Carbon, the company’s second major model release in a month. Marvell is in advanced talks to buy data center optics maker Lumentum. Today on The Information’s TITV Check out today's episode of TITV in which Akash Pasricha speaks with Catherine Perloff about her reporting on Amazon's defense against agent-induced disintermediation.