Microsoft Azure tops $100B in annual revenue as record AI spending cuts into cash flow

GeekWire File Photo Microsoft’s Azure cloud business grew 43% last quarter, blowing past the company’s own forecast and surpassing $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, providing fresh evidence of the potential for artificial intelligence to fuel new growth for the tech giant. The company’s results for its fiscal fourth quarter also showed the price of that growth: capital spending hit a record $41 billion, largely to support the company’s AI buildout, and free cash flow sank 23% ev