Microsoft (MSFT +1.03%) delivered an impressive earnings report for its fiscal fourth quarter 2025 (ending June 30, 2025), with strong results across the board.
Overall revenue jumped 18% to $76.4 billion, paced by exceptionally strong growth in Azure, its cloud infrastructure unit, which reported 39% growth, driving revenue from its Intelligent Cloud unit up 26% to $29.9 billion. Bottom-line results were also strong with net income up 24% to $27.2 million, or $2.65 per share.
However, one comment stood out in the company's earnings report, especially for investors in quantum computing stocks like Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT +6.35%), IonQ (IONQ +3.89%), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +3.22%), and Rigetti Computing (RGTI +4.64%).
Quantum computing stocks have attracted attention, soaring since Alphabet unveiled a new milestone with its Willow quantum computing chip, and now Microsoft appears to be jumping on the bandwagon.
CEO Satya Nadella made a bold statement on the earnings call, saying, "The next big accelerator in the cloud will be quantum, and I'm excited about progress. In fact, earlier this month, we announced the world's first operational deployment of a level two quantum computer with Atom Computing."
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What Microsoft is doing with quantum computing
Following in the footsteps of Alphabet, Microsoft announced its new Majorana 1 quantum chip in February, saying it's powered by a new Topological Core architecture, which will help create computers that can solve large-scale problems in years, not decades.
Microsoft's focus on topological qubits separates it from its competitors, though the company says that it's theoretically more stable than any other qubit engineered to date. Its quantum computing strategy will be driven by Azure, which will allow it to scale up its capabilities. Eventually, Microsoft says, its quantum computer will be able to handle bandwidths over 10-100 terabits per second and complete operations in less than a microsecond.
Microsoft's partnership with Atom Computing on quantum computers appears to be progressing rapidly, as in July, the company received an 80 million euro investment from a new Nordic quantum initiative, QuNorth, to build one of the very first Level 2 quantum computers.
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Key Data Points
What it means for quantum computing stocks
Quantum computing stocks didn't get the same boost from the announcement of Majorana that they did from Willow, but that may be because Alphabet's announcement took the industry by surprise, essentially kicking off a race for what may be the next disruptive technology after AI.
Microsoft is working with many of the top quantum computing stocks, so its success in quantum could be their success.
Some of these quantum computing companies also use Azure Quantum to power their operations and give customers access to their programs. For example, IonQ can reconfigure trapped-ion quantum computers for up to 11 fully connected qubits, and Rigetti's systems also operate on Azure Quantum and are known for fast gate times, low-latency conditional logic, and fast program execution.
However, the whole sector should benefit from improving visibility for quantum computing as tech leaders like Nadella tout its proximity and potential.
Nadella recognized the potential in AI early on and partnered with OpenAI to establish itself as a leader in generative AI. He also recognized the opportunity in cloud computing and has built Azure into a force that can soon topple Amazon Web Services as the biggest cloud infrastructure platform.
Now, Microsoft is aiming to do the same thing with quantum computing. While quantum seems unlikely to have its "ChatGPT moment" the way AI did, we could see it generating meaningful revenue in the next few years for some of the companies above.
If Microsoft gets more bullish on the technology, that should be a clear signal for the industry as a whole. While not every quantum stock will be a winner, any progress for the technology at this point is a win for the sector.
