Shares of tech giants rise after stronger-than-expected earnings.
Google and Microsoft reported double-digit profit increases, supporting the tech giants' big investments in artificial intelligence (AI).
Quarterly results reported Thursday by Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft beat expectations, sending their shares up 11 percent and 4 percent in aftermarket trade.
Alphabet reported a profit of $23.7 billion in the first three months of the year, an increase of 57 percent.
The Silicon Valley giant also announced its first-ever dividend of $0.20 per share.
Google chief Sundar Pichai said that AI Gemini, a text-to-image model, has helped drive the company's solid profits.
“Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure and our global product footprint position us well for the next wave of AI innovation,” Pichai said.
Microsoft reported quarterly profit of $21.93 billion, an increase of 20 percent.
The strong showing comes after rival Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, lost $200 billion of its market value on Wednesday after CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned of higher spending due to investments in AI.
The earnings come as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other major AI players come under scrutiny from regulators in the United States and Europe.
In January, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into whether the multibillion-dollar partnership between Microsoft, Amazon and Google and the startups OpenAI and Anthropic harmed competition.
In March, the European Commission launched a probe into the management of risks associated with AI technology giants, including computer-generated deepfakes.
