Microsoft’s Azure revenue surpasses $100B for the first time, and crypto infrastructure is quietly along for the ride

Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform has crossed the $100 billion annual revenue mark for the first time. The engine behind that growth isn’t spreadsheets or email. It’s artificial intelligence. The overall Microsoft Cloud segment pulled in $54.5 billion in a single quarter, a 29% jump year-over-year. Azure and its related cloud services grew even faster, clocking 40% year-over-year growth. For context, Azure was running at about a $75 billion annual pace just a year ago, with quarterly cloud revenue of $46.7 billion (up 27% at the time). AI is the rocket fuel Microsoft’s AI business hit a $37 billion annualized run rate in fiscal Q3 2026, a 123% increase compared to the prior year. One deal in particular illustrates the scale of capital flowing into AI cloud infrastructure. In November 2025, Microsoft signed a $9.7 billion AI cloud agreement with IREN, a company that previously operated as a Bitcoin miner. The deal included $5.8 billion worth of GPUs sourced from Dell. Azure’s complicated relationship with crypto Microsoft retired its dedicated Azure Blockchain Service back in September 2021. Rather than maintaining a bespoke blockchain product, Microsoft pivoted Azure toward general-...