The closely watched Azure cloud-computing unit posted a 39% rise in sales during Microsoft’s fiscal fourth quarter, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Analysts projected 34% revenue growth.

Technology giant Microsoft on Wednesday said its profit soared above expectations in the recently ended quarter, driven by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) units. Microsoft was one of the first tech giants to double down on artificial intelligence when the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 rocked the tech industry.

Microsoft shares jumped 7 per cent in after-hours trading. They had previously risen 22 per cent this year as the company is increasingly perceived by investors as a winner from the AI boom. Its stock market capitalisation of $3.8 trillion is second only to US chipmaker Nvidia.