Microsoft (MSFT) announced its quarterly earnings after the close of trading on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings per share. The tech giant posted revenue of $56.5 billion for the quarter, beating the consensus forecast of $54.5 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $2.99 versus expectations of $2.66 per share. In the same quarter last year, adjusted EPS was $2.35.

The company’s shares rose 3.6 per cent in pre-market trading on Wednesday after Microsoft said higher-than-expected artificial intelligence uptake fuelled growth in its cloud business.

Revenue from Microsoft’s intelligent cloud computing segment, which includes its Azure division, was $24.3 billion in the quarter. Wall Street had expected revenue of $23.6bn. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew 29 per cent in the quarter, beating Wall Street expectations by 27 per cent.