Microsoft will begin disclosing quarterly revenue for its Azure cloud business for the first time, giving investors a clearer view of its operations competing against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. The change, announced Wednesday in a presentation, is part of a broader overhaul of Microsoft's reporting structure as the company consolidates its operating segments from three down to two. The previous structure had been in place since 2015.

Azure has been a major beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, as customers turn to major cloud infrastructure platforms to access the AI models needed to develop new agents and other tools. Stifel analysts estimated in July that Azure would see roughly half of its fiscal 2026 revenue growth come from OpenAI, while Anthropic has also grown more reliant on Microsoft's cloud services. "There's no doubt that AI represents a profound shift in technology and business," Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella wrote in the presentation. "It's changing how we build and operate, and it's blurring the lines between our products, reshaping our business model."

Amazon began disclosing revenue for its market-leading AWS unit back in 2015. Alphabet, which ranks third in the cloud space, started reporting combined revenue from Google Cloud Platform and Workspace productivity subscriptions in 2020. Microsoft, by contrast, had only previously offered year-over-year growth rates for Azure and, starting last year, an annual figure for actual sales. Another significant change for Azure, according to the presentation, is that it will now exclude GitHub cloud services, developer cloud offerings, the Security Copilot assistant, and healthcare and life sciences cloud products. In 2021, the company began publishing growth figures for Azure and other cloud services, later folding in some revenue from GitHub and its acquisition of Nuance Communications.

"Under this reporting structure, Azure will be more purely our consumption-based platform and infrastructure business," Nadella wrote in the presentation. Moving forward, Microsoft's two divisions will be "Agents and Infra" and "Devices and Consumer." The first will include Azure and Microsoft 365 cloud products, along with productivity and server licensing, industry solutions, and frontline and support services. The latter will cover search and advertising, Xbox, and revenue from device sales and Windows operating system licenses sold to device makers. Within the "Agents and Infra" segment, Microsoft will be able to showcase growth momentum across a range of AI assistants, including Microsoft 365 Copilot for business customers and the GitHub Copilot coding agent.

Microsoft said in July that its 365 Copilot has more than 30 million paid seats, up from over 20 million in April. The company is also providing two years of restated financial results and adjusted guidance, but it will stop showing costs and operating margins for the three old segments. Under the new structure, Azure revenue grew 42% in the June quarter to $29.42 billion, compared with 43% growth using the old Azure and other cloud services metric. That puts Azure at nearly 33% of Microsoft's total revenue in the most recent period. Management said Azure revenue should grow 44% to 45% on a constant currency basis in the fiscal first quarter. In July, the company had forecast 45% growth for Azure and other cloud services on a constant currency basis.

Microsoft is targeting "Agents and Infra" revenue between $75.15 billion and $75.75 billion, and "Devices and Consumer" revenue between $14.7 billion and $15.2 billion. The outlook for total revenue, cost of revenue, or operating expenses remains unchanged.