The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 31, edition that Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for fiscal second quarter revenue on Tuesday. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that Microsoft stock helped fuel a 24-per-cent surge in the S&P 500 in 2023. Chief executive officer Satya Nadella said in a statement: "We've moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale. By infusing AI across every layer of our tech stack, we're winning new customers and helping drive new benefits and productivity gains across every sector." Investors are watching Microsoft's Azure and Office revenues closely to see what kind of sales flow come from the tens of billions of dollars the company plans to pour into data centres this year to deliver generative artificial intelligence. Total revenue grew 18 per cent to $62-billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of $61.12-billion (all figures U.S.). Adjusted profit of $2.93 a share beat an average estimate of $2.78 a share. Revenue at Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud unit, which houses the Azure cloud computing platform, grew 20 per cent to $25.9-billion. Sales of Azure grew 30 per cent -- its best growth rate in four quarters.