Noelle Walsh’s Post

Last Friday, April 4, we celebrated 50 years of Microsoft and as I reflect on that major milestone, I am extremely proud of the work we are doing in Cloud Operations + Innovation and beyond to enable our customers with our datacenter infrastructure – the infrastructure that is the backbone of the Microsoft Cloud and AI. In the last three years, we’ve doubled datacenter capacity, adding more in 2024 than any other year in history. We expect to have another record year in 2025, and our global footprint continues to expand, across 60+ regions and 350+ datacenters worldwide. This year, Microsoft is on track to spend more than $80B to continue building out our datacenter infrastructure and these investments are informed by near-term and long-term demand signals. Customer demand for our cloud and AI services continues to increase as reflected by strong growth in revenue and customer commitments in Microsoft Cloud and AI. Recently, we have seen heightened interest in the adjustments we are making to some early-stage datacenter infrastructure projects. While these kinds of shifts are common in rapidly growing industries, I wanted to shed some light on a few of the considerations that helped shape our decision making. Datacenter planning is a multi-year and capital-intensive program we plan for years in advance to ensure we have sufficient infrastructure in the right places. In recent years, demand for our cloud and AI services grew more than we could have ever anticipated and to meet this opportunity, we began executing the largest and most ambitious infrastructure scaling project in our history. By nature, any significant new endeavor at this size and scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our customers. What this means is that we are slowing or pausing some early-stage projects. While we may strategically pace our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and allocate investments that stay aligned with business priorities and customer demand. In regions where we have existing datacenters and projects, we are continuing our community investments, including programs for skilling and education and help for local businesses to take advantage of the cutting-edge technology our cloud platform enables. We are continuing to invest globally across 18 countries where we have made infrastructure investment announcements starting with Australia in Oct 2023 to most recently in South Africa Mar 2025 this year. Our commitment to advancing AI technology and delivering value to our customers is unwavering. As we move forward, we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and remain dedicated to driving innovation and excellence in everything we do. #microsoftcloud#datacenters