Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) latest quarterly results show its profit and revenue beat market expectations。Microsoft says its new artificial intelligence capabilities are attracting customers to its Azure cloud services。

However, Microsoft's shares fell 1% in after-hours trading as investors digested cost growth data the company used to invest in key AI features.。

The company expects operating expenses for the quarter to reach $15.8 billion to $15.9 billion, up from $15.4 billion in the previous quarter.。The company also said it expects capital spending to rise "substantially."。

In the past year, Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI to integrate chatbots into key products such as its Office software and Bing search engine, attracting enterprise customers eager to explore new technological advances.。Investors interested in AI drive Microsoft's stock up 57% in 2023。

At the same time, however, Microsoft's costs are rising。Investors are closely watching the growth of its Azure and Office businesses to determine whether it can keep up with the big spending this year on data centers to deliver generative AI.。

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement: "We have moved from discussing AI to implementing it at scale.。"By incorporating AI into every layer of our technology stack, we not only attract new customers, but also drive new benefits and efficiencies in every area."。"

Microsoft vice president Brett Iverson said AI contributed nearly 6 percentage points to Azure's growth, double the 3 percentage points in the previous quarter.。

Nadella told investors on a conference call that there are currently 53,000 Azure AI customers, a third of whom have joined in the past year.。

According to LSEG data, Microsoft's total sales rose 18 percent to $62 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' expectations of 611..$200 million。Adjusted EPS of 2.$93, more than the average estimate of 2.78美元。

Revenue at Microsoft's Smart Cloud business subsidiary rose 20 percent to $25.9 billion, including the Azure cloud computing platform.。Azure sales rose 30%, the highest growth rate in four quarters, surpassing 27.7% consensus expectations, also exceeded Google's cloud computing 25.7% growth。

Sales in Microsoft's personal computing business unit rose 19 percent to $16.9 billion, driven in part by the company's $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty creator Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI).。Analysts estimate $16.8 billion。

Sales in Microsoft's Productivity and Business Processes business unit rose 13 percent to $19.2 billion, slightly higher than expected.。

Overall, Microsoft's results gave a good score, but did not fully meet market expectations。Shares of AI-related companies fell $190 billion late Tuesday after Microsoft, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) released quarterly results.。