Microsoft forecast on Wednesday a record $30 billion in capital spending for the current fiscal first quarter, after booming sales in its Azure cloud computing business showcased the growing returns on its massive bets on artificial intelligence.

Microsoft's Azure platform outperformed expectations with $75 billion in annual sales, thanks to strategic AI investments. The growth showcases Microsoft's strong position in the cloud market, despite competition from Amazon.

Microsoft Corp. said it will spend more than $30 billion in the current quarter to build out the data centers powering its artificial intelligence services.Investors, applauding accelerating growth in the company’s cloud-computing unit,