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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThere was no single winner in the June 2025 cloud earnings face-off. Microsoft Azure led disclosed growth at 39%, AWS remained the largest separately reported cloud segment at $30.9 billion in quarterly revenue and produced the highest disclosed cloud operating margin at 32.9%, while Google Cloud delivered the sharpest profitability improvement, lifting its operating margin to 20.7%.
The comparison requires one important calendar adjustment: Amazon and Alphabet reported the quarter ended June 30, 2025 as calendar Q2, while Microsoft reported the same period as fiscal fourth-quarter 2025. Microsoft’s fiscal Q2 2025 ended on December 31, 2024 and is not the comparable period.
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The Q2 2025 cloud scorecard
The most defensible verdict depends on the metric being measured: Azure won growth, AWS won disclosed scale and absolute cloud profit, and Google Cloud showed the strongest improvement in profitability.
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| Metric for the period ended June 30, 2025 | AWS | Microsoft Azure | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported quarterly cloud revenue | $30.873 billion | Not disclosed separately | $13.624 billion |
| Year-over-year growth | 17.5% | 39% for Azure and other cloud services | Approximately 32% |
| Reported cloud operating income | $10.160 billion | Not disclosed separately | $2.826 billion |
| Reported operating margin | 32.9% | Not disclosed | 20.7% |
| Company capex indicator | $31.4 billion cash capex | $22.6 billion including finance leases | $22.4 billion |
| Important forward indicator | Continued infrastructure and AI investment | More than $75 billion in annual Azure revenue | $106 billion cloud backlog |
Sources: Amazon Q2 2025 results, Microsoft FY2025 Q4 results, and Alphabet’s Q2 2025 filing.
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What counts as Q2 2025?
Amazon’s and Alphabet’s Q2 2025 quarters ended June 30, 2025. Microsoft uses a different fiscal calendar: the quarter ended June 30 was Microsoft fiscal Q4 2025. That is the period used in this comparison.
Calling Microsoft’s comparable results “Microsoft Q2 2025” would refer to fiscal Q2 2025, which ended December 31, 2024. The distinction matters because using that earlier Microsoft quarter would create an invalid comparison with Amazon and Alphabet’s June results. Microsoft’s relevant FY2025 Q4 release covers the correct period.
Growth winner: Azure
Microsoft reported 39% year-over-year growth for Azure and other cloud services. That exceeded Google Cloud’s approximately 32% growth and AWS’s 17.5% growth.
- Azure and other cloud services: 39%
- Google Cloud: approximately 32%
- AWS: 17.5%
This is the clearest growth ranking, but it is not a perfectly symmetrical comparison. AWS and Google Cloud report segment revenue directly. Microsoft reports Azure growth, but not a standalone quarterly Azure revenue or operating-profit figure. The wording “Azure and other cloud services” also means Microsoft’s growth metric is not a pure Azure-only disclosure.
Microsoft said Azure had surpassed $75 billion in annual revenue, up 34%. That milestone confirms Azure’s substantial scale, but it is a yearly figure and should not be substituted for quarterly Azure revenue.
Scale winner: AWS among comparable disclosed segments
AWS reported $30.873 billion in Q2 sales, up from the prior year. Google Cloud reported $13.624 billion. On the separately disclosed quarterly figures, AWS was more than twice the size of Google Cloud.
Rank #2
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Microsoft reported $46.7 billion of Microsoft Cloud revenue, but that is not equivalent to Azure revenue. Microsoft Cloud includes Azure, Microsoft 365 commercial cloud, Dynamics and other cloud services. It would therefore be incorrect to say that Azure generated $46.7 billion or that Microsoft’s cloud segment directly surpassed AWS on this measure.
The safest scale conclusion is that AWS remained the largest separately reported cloud segment in the table, while Microsoft’s overall cloud ecosystem was reported using a broader aggregation.
AWS: still the cloud profit engine, despite slower growth
AWS generated $10.160 billion of operating income on $30.873 billion of revenue. That implies an operating margin of approximately 32.9%. AWS operating income increased from $9.334 billion in Q2 2024.
Those results make AWS the leader in disclosed cloud operating profit and disclosed cloud margin. But they do not make AWS the undisputed industry-wide margin leader because Microsoft does not disclose Azure’s operating income separately.
AWS growth of 17.5% was below the rates reported by Azure and Google Cloud. That should be described as slower growth, not a collapse: AWS was still adding billions of dollars in quarterly sales from a much larger base. Possible explanations discussed around the industry include AWS’s larger scale, customer optimization, capacity availability, comparison effects and the timing of AI infrastructure deployment. Those are potential factors, not conclusions established by the earnings release.
Amazon’s total Q2 net sales were $167.702 billion, and its net income was $18.164 billion. AWS remained a major contributor to operating performance, while Amazon continued investing in technology infrastructure and fulfillment capacity.
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Azure: fastest growth, limited standalone transparency
Azure’s biggest advantage in this quarter was momentum. The 39% growth rate led the three reported cloud growth figures, and Microsoft’s enterprise distribution gives Azure access to customers already using Microsoft 365, Windows Server, SQL Server, GitHub, Entra and Dynamics.
Microsoft reported $76.441 billion of total quarterly revenue, up 18%, and $46.7 billion of Microsoft Cloud revenue, up 27%. Intelligent Cloud revenue was $29.9 billion, up 26%. None of those figures should be treated as a standalone Azure revenue number.
The same disclosure limitation affects profitability. Microsoft does not report Azure operating income separately, so readers cannot calculate a company-reported Azure operating margin from the quarter’s results. Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud operating income is also not a valid substitute because that segment includes server products and enterprise services beyond Azure.
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Google Cloud: the profitability-improvement story
Google Cloud revenue rose 32% to $13.624 billion. Operating income increased from $1.172 billion to $2.826 billion, and operating margin expanded from 11.3% to 20.7%.
That margin expansion was the quarter’s most striking profitability improvement. Google Cloud was still smaller than AWS on reported revenue, but it was converting a larger share of sales into operating income than it had a year earlier.
Rank #4
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Google attributed some of the improvement to revenue growth and efficiency gains, while noting that higher technical-infrastructure usage costs and employee compensation partially offset those benefits. That qualification is important: rising demand can improve operating leverage, but adding AI capacity also brings server, data-center, power, depreciation and staffing costs.
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Google Cloud’s reported $106 billion backlog was a significant forward demand indicator. It is not the same as immediate revenue. Backlog conversion depends on deployment schedules, contract terms, customer usage and the company’s ability to provide capacity.
Google also said demand and supply remained tight into 2026. That suggests strong demand, but capacity constraints can cut both ways: they may support future revenue while also limiting how quickly contracted business becomes recognized sales.
Did AI demand translate into financial results?
The earnings reports show that AI demand was influencing spending and cloud growth, but they do not prove that every dollar of AI infrastructure spending was already highly profitable.
It helps to separate four ideas:
- AI infrastructure demand: servers, GPUs, CPUs, networking, data centers and power.
- AI product monetization: managed AI platforms, model access, copilots, agents and application services.
- Cloud revenue acceleration: the reported sales growth that may include AI and non-AI workloads.
- Profitability: the result after infrastructure, energy, compensation, depreciation and other costs.
Google connected strong cloud demand with its $106 billion backlog and higher infrastructure investment. Microsoft said more than half of its cloud- and AI-related spending in the relevant quarter was directed toward long-lived assets expected to support monetization for 15 years or more, with much of the remaining spending going toward servers serving customer demand and contracted backlog.
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The AI infrastructure bill: why capex rankings are misleading
The companies all spent heavily, but their reported figures use different definitions and scopes:
- Amazon: $31.4 billion of cash capital expenditures in Q2. The figure includes technology infrastructure, much of it supporting AWS, as well as additional fulfillment capacity.
- Microsoft: $22.6 billion of capex including finance leases, compared with $15.8 billion of cash paid for property and equipment.
- Alphabet: $22.4 billion of capex in Q2. Google linked its higher 2025 outlook to servers and accelerated data-center construction.
Alphabet raised its 2025 capital-expenditure expectation to approximately $85 billion, up from its earlier $75 billion estimate. Microsoft’s figure includes finance leases, while Amazon’s total is not AWS-only. Consequently, these numbers are best treated as investment-intensity indicators, not a clean league table.
High capex can create capacity for future sales and support contracted demand. It can also increase depreciation, energy and financing costs. The central investment question is not simply who spent the most, but whether new capacity is utilized and monetized at returns that exceed its long-term cost.
How the three competitive positions changed
| Provider | Best evidence from the quarter | Main uncertainty |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | Largest separately disclosed cloud revenue, highest disclosed operating profit and margin | Whether growth can reaccelerate from 17.5% |
| Azure | Fastest disclosed growth at 39% and strong enterprise distribution | Standalone Azure revenue, profit and margin are not disclosed |
| Google Cloud | 32% growth, $106 billion backlog and margin expansion to 20.7% | Whether capacity and higher infrastructure costs constrain future returns |
Google Cloud was catching up in growth and reported profitability, but it had not overtaken AWS in quarterly reported revenue. Azure was gaining momentum, but its less detailed segment reporting prevents a complete financial comparison.
What investors should watch next
- Whether Azure can sustain growth near 39% as its comparison base becomes larger.
- Whether AWS reaccelerates toward the growth rates of Azure and Google Cloud.
- Whether Google Cloud maintains a 20% or higher operating margin while increasing infrastructure investment.
- Whether AI workloads become recurring, high-value revenue rather than primarily an infrastructure expense.
- Whether Google’s backlog converts into recognized revenue at the expected pace.
- Whether capacity shortages limit sales despite strong customer demand.
- Whether customer optimization or macroeconomic pressure returns.
- Whether custom silicon improves cost structure and utilization.
These are forward-looking questions, not additional Q2 results. Backlog is a demand and contracted-business indicator, not a guarantee that the full amount will appear as near-term revenue.
Quick Recap
Verdict by reader type
- Growth-focused investor: Azure led the quarter’s disclosed growth ranking.
- Profitability-focused investor: AWS delivered the largest disclosed cloud operating profit and margin.
- Turnaround-focused investor: Google Cloud showed the strongest margin progression.
- Enterprise technology buyer: The earnings table alone does not identify the best provider. Existing software, identity systems, workload type, region, compliance, pricing, migration costs and internal skills matter more than a single quarter’s ranking.
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