WASHINGTON, Sept 18 — Microsoft said on Monday that its board has approved a new share buyback programme of up to US$60 billion (RM255.07 billion).
The tech giant declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.83 per share, reflecting an 8 cent, or 10 per cent, increase over the previous quarter.
Microsoft said it will hold its annual shareholders meeting on December 10.
In July, the company said it will spend more this fiscal year on AI infrastructure. It reported a 77.6 per cent rise in capital spending in the quarter ended June 30, largely due to artificial intelligence (AI)-related expenses.
The company reported a slowdown in growth at its Azure cloud business in the reported quarter but said growth would accelerate in the second half of fiscal 2025.
Big tech companies, including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, are facing investor pressure to show a payoff for the billions of dollars they have been investing in AI infrastructure.
Microsoft is one of the few big companies that break out AI contributions in their quarterly earnings, as most firms are yet to see a big boost from AI investments.
Last month, it had restructured how it reports results for its business units, moving some search and news advertising revenue under the Azure cloud-computing unit.
Among other big technology companies, Apple unveiled a record US$110 billion share buyback programme in May after it reported upbeat quarterly results.
Shares of Microsoft rose marginally in aftermarket trade. Stock has risen about 15 per cent so far this year.
BlackRock and Microsoft plan to launch a more than US$30 billion fund to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure to build data centres and energy projects, the companies said on Tuesday.
AI models, especially those used for deep learning and large-scale data processing, require substantial computational power, leading to higher energy consumption.
The computing requirements for AI have dictated that tech companies string together thousands of chips in clusters to achieve the necessary amount of data crunching power, leading to a surge in the demand for these specialised data centers.
The investment vehicle, known as Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, aims to help enhance AI supply chains and energy sourcing, BlackRock and Microsoft said.
MGX, the Abu Dhabi-backed investment company, will be a general partner in the fund, while AI chip firm Nvidia will provide expertise.
The partnership will mobilise up to US$100 billion in total investment potential when including debt financing, the companies said.
The investments will be chiefly in the United States and the remainder in its partner countries, according to the companies.
The Financial Times had first reported on the development.
— Reuters
