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Microsoft CFO’s AI Spending Runs Up Against Tech Bubble Fears
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April 2, 2026
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5:45Now PlayingAmy Hood took a look at the numbers, didn’t like what she saw and stomped the brakes.
Hood, Microsoft’s longtime chief financial officer, questioned the reliability of the company’s internal projections and believed the spending binge risked getting out of hand, according to multiple people working with her at the time. She made the call to pause numerous expansion projects, these people say.
Then and now, it was a controversial decision. News of the about-face trickled out over the coming months, rattling investors who interpreted it as a negative signal about the viability of AI. Microsoft has defended the pause, saying it gave the company an opportunity to match data center positioning to regional demand. But in the intervening months, Hood herself has acknowledged being surprised that demand for AI services outstripped the company’s ability to provide them.
Today, Microsoft’s business is still being held back by a shortage of data center space, and many of the sites the company abandoned were picked up by rivals.
Microsoft is a $2.8 trillion company with cash flow so stable its debt is considered nearly as reliable as US treasuries. But despite commanding a gusher of cash, Hood, 54, has one of the toughest jobs in tech. Like her counterparts at Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., she must assess how much to invest in AI without starving other parts of the company or spooking investors with bottomless spending.
Bloomberg Technology Reporter Brody Ford joins Paul Sweeney and Scarlet Fu on "Bloomberg Intelligence" to talk about the pressure Amy Hood faces with Microsoft and what's next for the company.
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