The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, April 26, edition that Microsoft exceeded third quarter revenue and profit estimates due to increased artificial intelligence adoption in their cloud services. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that revenue rose 17 per cent to $61.9-billion in the quarter ended March, exceeding the consensus estimate of $60.8-billion (all figures U.S.). Earnings per share of $2.94 topped Wall Street's target of $2.82. The stock has soared on Microsoft shipping generative AI (genAI) tools based on its strategic partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI and also helped it capture the world's most valuable company crown from Apple this year. Microsoft's strong profit and revenue offset concerns about higher-than-expected AI-fuelled capital expenditures. On Wednesday, Meta's lower-than-anticipated revenue forecast and guidance for higher expenses driven by surging AI costs knocked $200-billion off the Facebook and Instagram parent's market value. Brett Iversen, Microsoft's vice-president of investor relations, told Reuters: "We're continuing to see customer demand grow quite a bit. And so we're making sure to scale our available capacity in line with that."