Microsoft crushes Q3 earnings expectations as AI business hits $37 billion run rate

Microsoft just dropped a fiscal Q3 2026 earnings report that made Wall Street’s estimates look conservative. Revenue came in at $82.9 billion, comfortably ahead of the $81.4 billion consensus, while earnings per share landed at $4.27 versus the $4.06 analysts had penciled in. Microsoft’s AI business has reached an annual revenue run rate of $37 billion. That’s up 123% year-over-year. Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, grew 40% year-over-year. Microsoft Cloud revenue overall hit $54.5 billion for the quarter, representing a 29% increase from the same period last year. Total company revenue grew 18% year-over-year. Microsoft signed a $9.7 billion AI cloud deal with IREN, a company better known in crypto circles as a bitcoin miner. IREN operates data center infrastructure that was originally built for cryptocurrency mining. The deal essentially repurposes that infrastructure for AI workloads running on Azure. Microsoft’s earnings materials didn’t mention any specific cryptocurrency tokens or blockchain metrics. The company isn’t holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet or launching a stablecoin. Looking ahead, Microsoft’s fiscal Q4 results are expected on July 29, 2026. Consensu...