Economic Conditions, Challenges, and Risks
The markets for software, devices, and cloud-based services are dynamic and highly competitive. Our competitors are developing new software and devices, while also deploying competing cloud-based services for consumers and businesses. The devices and form factors customers prefer evolve rapidly, influencing how users access services in the cloud and, in some cases, the user’s choice of which suite of cloud-based services to use. Aggregate demand for our software, services, and devices is also correlated to global macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, which remain dynamic. We must continue to evolve and adapt over an extended time in pace with this changing environment.
The investments we are making in cloud and AI infrastructure and devices will continue to increase our operating costs and may decrease our operating margins. We continue to identify and evaluate opportunities to expand our datacenter locations and increase our server capacity to meet the evolving needs of our customers, particularly given the growing demand for AI services. Our datacenters depend on the availability of permitted and buildable land, predictable energy, networking supplies, and servers, including graphics processing units (“GPUs”) and other components. Our devices are primarily manufactured by third-party contract manufacturers. For the majority of our products, we have the ability to use other manufacturers if a current vendor becomes unavailable or unable to meet our requirements. However, some of our products contain certain components for which there are very few qualified suppliers. Extended disruptions at these suppliers could impact our ability to manufacture devices on time to meet consumer demand.
Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified employees. We hire a mix of university and industry talent worldwide. We compete for talented individuals globally by offering an exceptional working environment, broad customer reach, scale in resources, the ability to grow one’s career across many different products and businesses, and competitive compensation and benefits.
Our international operations provide a significant portion of our total revenue and expenses. Many of these revenue and expenses are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. As a result, changes in foreign exchange rates may significantly affect revenue and expenses. Fluctuations in the U.S. dollar relative to certain foreign currencies did not have a material impact on reported revenue and expenses from our international operations in fiscal year 2025.
Further, global, regional, and local economic developments and changes in global trade policies such as restrictions on international trade, including tariffs and other controls on imports or exports, could result in increased supply chain challenges, cost volatility, and consumer and economic uncertainty which may adversely affect our results of operations.
Refer to Risk Factors (Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K) for a discussion of these factors and other risks.
Seasonality
Our revenue fluctuates quarterly and is generally higher in the fourth quarter of our fiscal year. Fourth quarter revenue is driven by a higher volume of multi-year contracts executed during the period.
Reportable Segments
We report our financial performance based on the following segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The segment amounts included in MD&A are presented on a basis consistent with our internal management reporting.
In August 2024, we announced changes to the composition of our segments. These changes align our segments with how we currently manage our business, most notably bringing the commercial components of Microsoft 365 together in the Productivity and Business Processes segment. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, the information that our chief operating decision maker is regularly provided and reviews for purposes of allocating resources and assessing performance reflects these segment changes. Prior period segment information has been recast to conform to the way we internally manage and monitor our business during fiscal year 2025.
Additional information on our reportable segments is contained in Note 18 – Segment Information and Geographic Data of the Notes to Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K).
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PART II