Microsoft forecast on Wednesday a record $30 billion in capital spending for the current fiscal first quarter, after booming sales in its Azure cloud computing business showcased the growing returns on its massive bets on artificial intelligence.

Azure is part of Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud group, which delivered revenue of $29.9 billion for the quarter, up 26 percent. The company's Productivity and Business Processes group posted revenue of $33.1 billion, up 16 percent. That includes Microsoft 365 Commercial and Consumer products, LinkedIn, and Dynamics products.

Microsoft Corp. reported better-than-expected growth in its cloud business and said spending on AI infrastructure hit a record.