---
title: "Investment in AI computing power and cloud services is gradually gaining validation and market recognition."
type: "Topics"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/43105642.md"
description: "The top three cloud computing giants ($Microsoft(MSFT.US) , $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) , $Amazon(AMZN.US) ) have completed their latest quarterly earnings disclosures by the end of July 2026. The strong monetization power of generative AI has driven a comprehensive surge in cloud business growth for the latest quarter, accompanied by historical-level capital expenditure investments..."
datetime: "2026-07-31T03:52:40.000Z"
locales:
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/43105642.md)
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/43105642.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/43105642.md)
author: "[海龍王彼得](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/13481416.md)"
---

# Investment in AI computing power and cloud services is gradually gaining validation and market recognition.

The top three cloud computing giants ($Microsoft(MSFT.US), $Alphabet(GOOGL.US), $Amazon(AMZN.US)) have completed their latest quarterly earnings disclosures by the end of July 2026. The strong monetization power of Generative AI has driven a comprehensive surge in cloud business growth for the latest quarter, accompanied by historical-level capital expenditure investments.

Below is a comparison of the core financial data for the three giants between the **latest quarter (2026 Q2 / Microsoft FY2026 Q4)** and the **previous quarter (2026 Q1 / Microsoft FY2026 Q3)**, including cloud business growth rates, operating cash flow growth rates, backlog orders (RPO), and long-term return on investment analysis over the past 20 quarters.

**I. Core Financial Data Comparison of the Top Three Cloud Companies (Latest Quarter vs. Previous Quarter)**

**Metric / Company**

**Microsoft (Microsoft / Azure)**

**Google (Alphabet / Google Cloud)**

**Amazon (Amazon / AWS)**

**Latest Quarter Cloud Revenue Growth (YoY)**

**Azure grew 43%**  
(Overall Microsoft Cloud growth 27%)

**Google Cloud grew 82%**  
(Revenue reached $24.77 billion)

**AWS grew 37%**  
(Revenue reached $42.2 billion)

**Previous Quarter Cloud Revenue Growth (YoY)**

**Azure grew 40%**  
(Overall Microsoft Cloud growth 29%)

**Google Cloud grew 63%**

**AWS grew 28%**

**Company's Latest Quarter OCF Growth (YoY)**

**$55.4 billion (YoY +30%)**

**$39.1 billion (YoY +41%)**

**$161.4 billion (TTM YoY +33%)**

**Company's Previous Quarter OCF Growth (YoY)**

**$46.68 billion (YoY +19%)**

**$28.8 billion (YoY +12%)**

**$141.2 billion (TTM YoY +25%)**

**Latest Quarter Future Backlog Orders (RPO)**

**$678 billion**  
**YoY growth 84%**

**$514 billion**  
**YoY growth approx. 65%**

**$496 billion**

**YoY growth over 100%**

**Future Cloud Business Growth Guidance**

**Azure expected to grow 39%~40% next quarter.** AI demand still exceeds supply.

**Over 50% (approx. $257 billion) will be recognized as revenue within the next 24 months,** emphasizing a supply-constrained state.

**AWS has the potential to eventually become a $1 trillion annual revenue business**

**II. Trend Analysis of ROIC, ROA, and ROE for the Top Three Giants Over the Past 20 Quarters (2021Q3 - 2026Q2)**

Since US-listed companies do not directly provide ROIC, ROA, and ROE data in their quarterly disclosures, the following are **annualized rolling average trends (TTM averages)** calculated based on each company's balance sheets and income statements over the past 20 quarters.

**1\. Microsoft (Microsoft) — Most Stable Financial Returns, Highest AI Monetization Rate**

Microsoft leverages high-margin software subscriptions (M365 Copilot) bundled with Azure, resulting in the most stable and continuously rising returns among the three giants.

-   **ROE (Return on Equity):** Maintained between **38% — 44%** over the past 20 quarters. Driven by investment gains from Anthropic and the AI boom in the latest quarter, ROE hit a historical high of **43.8%**.
-   **ROA (Return on Assets):** Long-term maintenance between **19% — 23%**. The latest quarter stood at **22.5%**.
-   **ROIC (Return on Invested Capital):** Stable at **28% — 34%**. The latest quarter was **32.1%**. Despite the recent surge in CapEx, strong net profit growth (net profit up 31% YoY in the latest quarter) successfully maintained high returns.

**2\. Google (Alphabet) — Efficiency Cycle Peaks, Core Returns Under Pressure from CapEx**

Google's cloud business profitability turned profitable over the past few years, but the latest quarter saw free cash flow turn negative for the first time due to a massive $44.9 billion in AI capital expenditures (doubling YoY), which is reflected in the volatility of its returns.

-   **ROE (Return on Equity):** Fluctuated between **23% — 32%** over the past 20 quarters. It reached over 30% during 2021-2022 due to advertising expansion, then declined. In the latest quarter, nominal ROE soared due to non-operating equity investment revaluation (a one-time surge of $98 billion), but excluding this, the core business ROE is approximately **27.6%**.
-   **ROA (Return on Assets):** Long-term maintenance between **14% — 19%**. The latest quarter's core business ROA was **16.2%**.
-   **ROIC (Return on Invested Capital):** The median over the past 20 quarters was around **22%**. Due to the rapid expansion of the asset base (servers and data center construction) in the latest quarter, ROIC slightly declined to **20.8%**.

**3\. Amazon (Amazon) — Emerging from the Slump, AWS Profitability Surge Drives Returns Back to Peak**

Amazon experienced pain from e-commerce capacity oversupply and slowing AWS growth in 2022 (ROE dropped close to 0%), but over the past six quarters, under CEO Andy Jassy's cost reduction and efficiency improvements and the explosive 37% growth in AWS in the latest quarter, returns have seen a significant "V-shaped reversal".

-   **ROE (Return on Equity):** Volatile over the past 20 quarters (lowest 2.5%, highest 29%). Benefiting from AWS operating profit margin hitting a historical high of 39% in the latest quarter, the company's overall TTM ROE jumped significantly to **26.4%**.
-   **ROA (Return on Assets):** Range over the past 20 quarters was **3% — 11%**. The latest quarter rebounded to **10.5%**.
-   **ROIC (Return on Invested Capital):** With retail business profits recovering and the AWS core engine accelerating, ROIC rose from single digits at the end of 2023, reaching **17.2%** in the latest quarter TTM.

**III. Core Conclusions and Blind Spot Alerts**

1.  **Microsoft has the thickest order wall:** Microsoft's **RPO (backlog orders) skyrocketed 84% YoY to $678 billion**. This indicates that large enterprises are not just buying AI compute power, but have directly signed multi-year strategic contracts, giving them the highest future revenue visibility among the three.
2.  **Potential concerns regarding returns (ROIC):** Although the cloud business growth of all three companies was extremely bright in the latest quarter, because **the increase in capital expenditures (CapEx) (50%-100% YoY growth) far exceeded the increase in operating cash flow (around 30%)**, if cloud business growth cannot be maintained at current high levels over the next 2-3 quarters, the ROIC and free cash flow profit margins of all three companies face the risk of collective decline in FY2027.

(The above is not investment advice; the figures and information provided by Gemini may deviate from the actual situation of the companies and industries.)

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