India, Aug. 4 -- When Microsoft reported its fourth-quarter FY26 results, Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43% year on year. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached USD 59.3 billion, while annual Azure revenue crossed USD 100 billion for the first time.

A day later, Microsoft added nearly USD 450 billion in market value, setting a record for the largest one-day increase by a company. Yet Microsoft is not responding to that growth by slowing spending. It is preparing to invest billions more in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

The apparent contradiction explains Microsoft's current strategy. Strong Azure growth is not reducing the need for investment. It is increasing the pressure to add data-centre and computing capacity q...