The company’s results are likely to ease investors’ worries that big investments in artificial intelligence aren’t paying off.

Microsoft forecast on Wednesday a record $30 billion in capital spending for the current fiscal first quarter, after booming sales in its Azure cloud computing business showcased the growing returns on its massive bets on artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Corp. said it will spend more than $30 billion in the current quarter to build out the data centers powering its artificial intelligence services.Investors, applauding accelerating growth in the company’s cloud-computing unit,

And both Meta and Microsoft were already on track to spend more than 30% of this year’s revenue on capital expenditures, compared with about 15% to 20% historically. Those outlays were already beginning to look like mere table stakes after Google parent Alphabet used its report last week to bump up its own capex spending plans for this year to $85 billion.

Good morning. Record artificial intelligence spending isn't holding tech shares back. Job seekers are competing with AI platforms. And a full battery comes with fries at the Tesla Diner. Listen to the day’s top stories.