As energy use by data centers and AI computing keeps climbing, tech giants Amazon and Microsoft are searching for clean power solutions.

As of the most recent Circana charts, Black Ops 6 was the No. 2 best-selling game of 2024, behind EA's College Football 25. (Activision Image) It’s been a

Microsoft was in the middle, thought to be worth $3.21trillion (£2.58trillion). Despite these huge numbers, all three are outstripped by larger firms when one looks back in history. The same website suggests that - when estimating how much they were worth in today's currency - six companies were valued higher.

Both Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) saw strong growth in their cloud-computing business units in 2024. While Microsoft's Azure saw the higher revenue growth, it was Amazon's stock that outperformed in 2024.

Microsoft ( MSFT, Financial) is set for another round of layoffs, and sources say these will include underperformers in performance-based cuts. Business Insider reports that security will be impacted,

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, left, speaking with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell at an event in Seattle last year to announce new funding for affordable housing

More than half of the $80 billion budget is expected to be deployed in the United States. The facilities will help train AI models and distribute cloud-based applications across the globe, according to Microsoft vice chair Brad Smith.

Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025.

That said, 20% earnings growth is still impressive and is reason enough to own the stock, as long as it can be purchased at a fair price. Amazon currently trades at 36 times 2025 earnings, which is a bit pricey.

Amazon and Microsoft are the world's two largest cloud-computing companies. Both companies are seeing strong growth in their clouding-computing units. Meanwhile, both companies also have dominant ...

Amazon and Microsoft, of course, are more than just their cloud businesses. Amazon is still the world's largest e-commerce and logistics company. It also owns the Prime Video streaming service.

The cloud units of Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft are maintaining their operating margins as they forge ahead with record capital investments to finance AI infrastructure buildouts.