Tech Giants Microsoft, Meta Defy Gloom; Nvidia's AI Factories; Silicon Valley Meets D.C. Policymakers

**What's up:** China--not tariffs--at top of agenda at D.C. confab of Silicon Valley leaders and policy makers; N

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By Tom Loftus

	What's up: China--not tariffs--at top of agenda at D.C. confab of Silicon Valley leaders and policy makers; Nvidia CEO says all companies will need ‘AI factories; Google CEO takes the stand

	Revenue for each of Microsoft’s key units surpassed the guidance the company issued in January. Photo: Jimin Kim/Sipa USA/AP

	Good morning, CIOs. The latest earnings from Microsoft and Meta Platforms add a footnote to a recent U.S. Commerce Department report pointing to a shrinking U.S. economy.

	Both tech giants projected revenue growth at or above expectations for the current quarter, noteworthy given today's tariff-related turmoil.

	The Commerce Department on Monday reported Monday that U.S. gross domestic product fell at a seasonally and inflation adjusted 0.3% annual rate in the first quarter, the first contraction since the first quarter of 2022.

	The findings did not seem to apply to Microsoft, which reported that total revenue jumped 13% from a year earlier for the January-to-March period to just over $70 billion. Meta said its sales grew by 16% to $42 billion, ahead of analyst expectations. Meta also boosted the high end of its capital expenditure forecast for this year by 11% to $72 billion.

	Microsoft Chief Satya Nadella Wednesday credited the results to ongoing demand for AI and cloud computing.

	Indeed the returns raise the question that if AI and cloud demand can rise during today’s environment, imagine how it would look without today's drama.

	Of course, it could be today's uncertainties that’s partly fueling AI and cloud spend, according to IBM CFO James Kavanaugh.

	“When you think about a very dynamic and uncertain environment, clients are focused on cost efficiency, cash preservation and liquidity,” Kavanaugh said last week, adding that their automation portfolio "plays extremely well to that.”

		Microsoft Flexes Muscle in Cloud, Office and Windows as Earnings Jump

		Meta Posts $42 Billion in Sales, Points to Strong Growth

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AI Factories

	Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Hill and Valley Forum on April 30 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

	Nvidia CEO says all companies will need ‘AI factories,’ touts creation of American jobs. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said all American companies will eventually need or become artificial-intelligence factories—or entities that produce both goods and AI—and will create skilled U.S. jobs in the process.

	“Just as we make physical cars today, or anything physical in the future, there’ll be a digital version of it,” Huang told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “So you need an AI factory to create the AI model that runs in the car.”

	An AI factory—which can also be described as a sort of one-stop shop of chips, software, design and networking infrastructure designed for AI—is a concept that Nvidia has promoted at past events as a facility that takes in data and churns out intelligence.