Microsoft shares rose about 4% in after-hours trading after Azure revenue grew 48% year on year to $33.2B, beating analysts’ $32.3B forecast.

Data center spending reached $45.2B in the quarter, below Microsoft’s own forecast of more than $50B because of construction delays, and cut free cash flow 27% year on year to $18.6B.

Contracted future revenue reached $677B, up 73% year on year but slightly below the previous quarter’s $678B, and Microsoft gave no update on paid Copilot seats, last reported at 30M in July.

Microsoft is offering buyouts to up to 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, UK and India to control costs as AI infrastructure spending climbs, after headcount already fell 2% year on year.