Microsoft is spending
$31B a quarter
building for AI.
The cash machine still runs. But where the cash goes has completely changed.
↓ scroll to read
✦ The bottom line
Microsoft generated $46.7 billion of operating cash in the quarter — and plowed $30.9 billion of it into AI data centers. The bet is the story now.
↓ the brief below
✦ Teach me
Real cash left over
The cash a company has left after running everything and paying for its buildings and equipment. Money it can save, return to owners, or reinvest.
Beats "profit" — profit is partly an accounting opinion. Cash either arrived or it didn't.
Wall Street calls this
Free cash flow
Microsoft's cash engine is enormous — but its spending just exploded, which changes how much is actually *left*.
Operating cash generated · latest quarter
$46.7
B
Cash thrown off by the business in three months — up from $37.0B a year earlier. The underlying machine is healthier than ever.
$46.7 billion of cash in a quarter is a torrent. For most of Microsoft's life, almost all of it became free cash — software costs little to copy. That has changed. AI runs on enormous data centers full of expensive chips, and Microsoft is building them as fast as it can. So how much of that cash torrent is now going straight into concrete and silicon?
Spending on data centers & equipment · latest quarter
$30.9
B
Spent on property and equipment in a single quarter — nearly double the $16.7B a year ago. The biggest infrastructure build in Microsoft's history.
So the question is what's left after that record spend. Subtract the $30.9B build from the $46.7B of operating cash, and you still get a positive number — Microsoft can fund the largest bet in its history and still have free cash to spare. That's the difference between a bet you can afford and one you can't. How much is left?
Free cash, after the build · latest quarter
$15.8
B
Even after a record $30.9B of capital spending, $15.8B of free cash remained — and Microsoft still returned $10.2B to shareholders. It sits on net cash.