Microsoft CEO Nadella Defends AI Spend as Copilot Usage Surges, Stock Slips on Capex Concerns

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella insists massive AI investments are paying off, citing surging Copilot adoption, even as shares dip following Q2 earnings. Revenue hit $81.3B (+17%), net income $38.3B (+21%), with cloud revenue exceeding $50B. Capex soared to $72.4B in H1 FY2026 — nearing all of FY2025’s $88.2B — fueling data centers for Azure, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Investors worry Azure and M365 growth underwhelmed, per UBS analyst Karl Keirstead, though he maintains a buy rating. Nadella highlighted Copilot metrics: consumer daily users up nearly 3x YoY (no absolute figure), GitHub Copilot paid subs at 4.7M (+75%), and 15M paid M365 Copilot seats out of 450M total. Dragon Copilot documented 21M patient visits last quarter — up 3x. CFO Amy Hood said AI demand exceeds data center capacity, justifying spend.