Artificial intelligence was the focus on Wednesday when tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) kicked off the first round of Big Tech earnings of 2025.
Analysts peppered executives with questions about their AI investments, how much AI is contributing to revenue, and their thoughts on Chinese start-up DeepSeek, which shook up Wall Street earlier this week with its super-efficient AI model.
Executives were eager to show investors that artificial intelligence is contributing to their bottom lines.
Meta CFO Susan Li said Meta AI reached 700 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter while the company’s AI-powered Advantage+ marketing service grew 70%. Meta’s quarterly revenue and earnings both surpassed analysts’ expectations.
Microsoft’s fiscal second-quarter cloud revenue fell slightly short of expectations, but CEO Satya Nadella noted the company’s AI revenue run rate hit $13 billion in the quarter, well above the $10 billion mark he forecast in October.
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