Oracle shares experienced a significant surge, climbing 7.8 per cent in after-hours trading in New York, following the release of its latest quarterly cloud revenue figures. The company’s infrastructure business, a closely monitored segment, saw revenue climb by 84 per cent to $US4.9 billion ($6.9 billion) for the period ending February 28. This growth surpasses both the 79 per cent expected by analysts and the 68 per cent increase recorded in the previous quarter. Oracle is a multinational computer technology corporation known for its database software. Its cloud business provides data centres and equipment for training and deploying AI models.
Oracle is actively working to fulfil substantial cloud infrastructure contracts with prominent clients, including OpenAI and Meta Platforms. The company’s remaining performance obligation, a metric used to gauge bookings, reached $US553 billion, up from $US523 billion in the prior quarter. According to Oracle, this increase is largely attributable to significant AI contracts where clients fund upfront semiconductor purchases.
Looking ahead, Oracle anticipates total revenue to reach $US90 billion in the fiscal year commencing in June. This projection exceeds the average analyst estimate of $US86.7 billion. The company highlighted the robust demand for cloud computing in the context of AI training and inferencing, noting that it continues to outpace supply.
Oracle stated, “The demand for cloud computing for AI training and inferencing continues to grow faster than supply. These market dynamics enable Oracle to comfortably meet and likely exceed our revenue growth rate forecast for FY27 and beyond.” The company also noted that some of the largest consumers of AI cloud capacity have recently strengthened their financial positions.
