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Microsoft’s deep ties with OpenAI are paying off even as their partnership remains complex and closely watched.

In its latest quarterly earnings report, the software giant disclosed that it made $7.6 billion in net income linked directly to its investment in OpenAI. 

The figure highlights how strongly Microsoft is benefiting from the AI boom.

Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, making it one of the company’s biggest backers. While both firms have stayed quiet publicly, reports suggest OpenAI shares about 20% of its revenue with Microsoft.

OpenAI, now structured as a public benefit corporation, is also seeking fresh funding. Bloomberg estimates its valuation could land between $750 billion and $830 billion, underscoring how fast its business has grown.

A key part of the renewed partnership is cloud spending.

Under revised terms agreed last September, OpenAI committed to buying an additional $250 billion worth of Azure services. That promise shows up in Microsoft’s accounts as future contracted revenue.

As a result, Microsoft’s “commercial remaining performance obligations” jumped from $392 billion to $625 billion in one quarter. The company said 45% of that increase is tied to OpenAI alone.

OpenAI is not Microsoft’s only big AI partner.

The company also highlighted Anthropic during its earnings call. Commercial bookings linked to AI deals rose 230%, boosted by Microsoft’s $5 billion investment in Anthropic and the startup’s plan to use up to $30 billion in Azure computing capacity.

To keep up with demand, Microsoft is spending aggressively.

Capital expenditure for the quarter hit $37.5 billion, with about two-thirds going into data centre hardware such as GPUs and CPUs used to power AI services on Azure.

Overall, Microsoft reported $81.3 billion in revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and marking a 17% year-on-year increase.

For the first time, Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $50 billion in a single quarter. Most business units posted double-digit growth, though Windows devices remained flat and Xbox content and services fell 5%.