Zheng Quan Shi Bao·2025-11-03 15:26Core Viewpoint - Microsoft plans to invest over $15.2 billion in the UAE from 2023 to 2029 to support the country's AI and cloud infrastructure development, highlighting global confidence in the UAE's economic vision for a diversified, knowledge-based economy [2][3]. Investment Details - The investment will be allocated to expanding AI and digital infrastructure, along with training and R&D programs to enhance local talent skills [3]. - Microsoft has already completed $7.3 billion of this investment by the end of 2023, with over $7.9 billion planned from 2026 to 2029, including more than $5.5 billion in capital expenditures for AI and cloud infrastructure [3]. Export Licenses and Collaborations - Microsoft has received export licenses to send advanced NVIDIA chips, including A100, H100, and H200 GPUs, to the UAE to support Azure's AI services [4]. - The company has established a global engineering development center and the Microsoft AI for Good lab in Abu Dhabi to promote responsible AI research and innovation [4]. Financial Performance - For the first fiscal quarter of 2026, Microsoft reported revenues of $77.673 billion, an 18% year-over-year increase, and a net profit of $27.747 billion, a 12% increase [5]. - The decline in net profit growth was attributed to a $3.086 billion impact from investments in OpenAI, affecting earnings per share by $0.41 [5]. Capital Expenditure Trends - Microsoft's capital expenditures surged to $34.9 billion in the first fiscal quarter, an increase of over $10 billion from the previous quarter, with expectations for higher growth rates in fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal year 2025 [6]. - The company is expanding its AI capabilities significantly, planning to increase overall AI computing power by over 80% within the year and double the size of its data centers in the next two years [7].