Microsoft's global revenue grew from fiscal year 2022 to 2024, increasing by about seven percent year-on-year and reaching over 245 billion U.S. dollars. This marks another record-setting year for the software giant in terms of sales revenue. Microsoft and Bill Gates Microsoft has become a constant figure among the world’s most valuable brands. Its founder Bill Gates is presently, and perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the richest men in the United States and among the richest billionaires worldwide, among other well-known figures such as Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim Helu, and Larry Ellison. In addition to his status as an entrepreneur, Bill Gates is also known for his philanthropy. In 2000, together with his wife, they created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation has donated a considerable amount of money, in particular in the area of research and development of treatments for neglected diseases. While Bill Gates no longer heads the Microsoft Corporation, the company itself continues to show strong results around the world, with versions of its most well-known product, the Windows operating system, consistently leading the home operating system market. The Microsoft Office suite also remains the most widely used office software around the world, with few comparable competitors in sight. The fiscal year end of the company is June, 30th.

In the fiscal year 2024, Microsoft earned almost 245 billion U.S. dollars from external customers, of which their Office products and cloud services accounted for close to 55 billion U.S. dollars. Server products and cloud services accounted for the largest share of this revenue, with around 97 billion U.S. dollars in FY2024.

In its 2024 financial year, Microsoft generated 77 billion U.S. dollars from its productivity and business processes segment and a further 105 billion through its intelligent cloud segment. Thanks in part to the rapid growth in these two areas, 2024 proved to be the company’s most successful year ever in terms of annual revenue, with the total figure reaching over 245 billion dollars. Microsoft Corporation Since its foundation in 1975, Microsoft has grown into one of the most successful tech firms in the world and has experienced years of continued success. In order to ensure that this growth persists, the company has added tens of thousands of employees over the past decade and invested billions into research and development. Some of Microsoft’s major business ventures include its Windows operating system, various lines of consumer electronics, software packages such as Microsoft Office, as well as newer offerings such as cloud computing capabilities. Intelligent cloud segment As Microsoft's fastest-growing business, intelligent cloud replaced the more personal computing segment in FY2020 to become the company's largest business segment. The intelligent cloud segment contains Microsoft's public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services, such as Azure, SQL Server, etc. Together with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Azure is one of the most popular cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings. The intelligent cloud segment, however, does not reflect the totality of Microsoft's cloud business, as Office 365 - the company's popular cloud collaboration solution - is grouped under the productivity and business processes segment. The software giant has established a firm footing in the fast-growing cloud market.

Microsoft Corporation’s quarterly revenue quadrupled within the last 12 years, increasing from 14.45 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2008 to over 69 billion in the second quarter of their 2025 fiscal year. Over the highlighted period, the largest increase in quarterly revenue occurred between the first and second quarters of 2010, with revenue increasing by more than six billion U.S. dollars. Intelligent Cloud segment leads Microsoft’s revenues    Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company that develops and sells a wide range of consumer and enterprise software, hardware, services, and consumer electronics. In its 2021 financial year, Microsoft generated most of its revenue from its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes Microsoft's popular cloud flatform Azure. The Productivity and Business Processes segment, including the successful line of the Office products, also brings in an increasing amount of revenues. The rapid growths in these segments contributed to making 2021 the company’s most successful year in terms of annual revenue, which amounted to more than 168 billion U.S. dollars. Microsoft's income growth is equally impressive Not only has Microsoft seen great evolution in terms of sales, the company has been making better and better profits as well. Microsoft's annual net income reached 73 billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2022, delivering an impressive margin of over 35 percent. In a time when the COVID-19 pandemic imposed social distancing and remote working practices onto businesses and individuals, technology companies such as Microsoft provide the essential tools that make such practices possible. Their businesses grow as a result.

In the fiscal year 2024, Microsoft Corporation reported a net income of over 88.14 billion U.S. dollars, an increase from fiscal year 2023 figure of 72.36 billion U.S. dollars. Microsoft’s sales revenue also peaked in fiscal year 2024 at 245 billion U.S. dollars. Microsoft Corporation Since its foundation in 1975, Microsoft has grown into one of the most successful tech firms in the world and has experienced decades of continued success. Some of the company’s major business ventures include its Windows operating system, its software packages such as Microsoft Office, its lines of consumer electronics, as well as newer offerings such as cloud computing solutions. Since 2014, Microsoft’s intelligent cloud segment has experienced consistent growth and has become the biggest revenue earner for the company. The technology industry As technology becomes further integrated into nearly all aspects of daily life, companies such as Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft have grown into some of the most powerful entities in the world. Spending in the IT industry alone amounts to trillions of dollars each year, meaning that these tech giants are well-positioned for continued success. The fiscal year end of the company is June, 30th.

In the fiscal year 2024, Alphabet's revenue was 348.16 billion U.S. dollars. Comparatively, in the fiscal year of 2023, hardware-focused Apple's 383.29 billion U.S. dollar revenue was almost double the amount of Microsoft's 211.92 billion U.S. dollars. Whereas all of these companies have different market strengths, there are also overlaps and thus, competition. Apple and Google are direct competitors in the mobile phone market with their iOS and Android systems.

In the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, Microsoft generated over 25 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from intelligent cloud services. Microsoft is offering cloud computing services through Azure to its customers. Its solutions include infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS), which can be used for virtual computing, analytics, networking, and storage, for example.

According to Cognitive Market Research, the global Secure MCU market size will be USD 4842.5 million in 2024. It will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.80% from 2024 to 2031.

North America held the major market share for more than 40% of the global revenue with a market size of USD 1937.00 million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.0% from 2024 to 2031.
Europe accounted for a market share of over 30% of the global revenue with a market size of USD 1452.75 million.
Asia Pacific held a market share of around 23% of the global revenue with a market size of USD 1113.78 million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% from 2024 to 2031.
Latin America had a market share of more than 5% of the global revenue with a market size of USD 242.13 million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% from 2024 to 2031.
Middle East and Africa had a market share of around 2% of the global revenue and was estimated at a market size of USD 96.85 million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5% from 2024 to 2031.
The dominant category in the secure MCU market is industrial electronics. This dominance is primarily driven by the increasing demand for automation and smart manufacturing technologies, which require robust security features to protect sensitive data and operational integrity

Market Dynamics of Secure MCU Market

Key Drivers for Secure MCU Market

Growing Demand for Secure IoT Solutions Across Industries to Boost Market Growth

As IoT adoption accelerates in sectors such as healthcare, automotive, and industrial automation, the need for secure microcontroller units (MCUs) has become increasingly critical. Secure MCUs offer advanced cryptographic functions, enabling the encryption and protection of data within connected devices that handle sensitive information. In healthcare, for example, connected medical devices require robust security to prevent data breaches that could compromise patient information and health outcomes. Similarly, in the automotive sector, as vehicles become more connected, the risk of cyber-attacks targeting onboard systems grows. The secure MCU market is driven by these heightened requirements across industries for resilient security frameworks to protect data integrity and prevent unauthorized access. For instance, in April 2022, the microcontroller family of STMicroelectronics, the STM32, received Microsoft Azure RTOS development changes. STM32Cube tools and expansion packages design Azure RTOS high-quality middleware for MCUs ranging from entry-level to high-performances. The company has extended support for Microsoft Azure RTOS in the STM32Cube development environment, covering additional high-performance, ultra-low-power, mainstream, and wireless microcontrollers (MCUs) from the STM32 family

Rising Regulatory Pressure and Compliance Needs to Drive Market Growth

The introduction of stricter regulatory standards aimed at safeguarding consumer data and device security is a major driver pushing the secure MCU market forward. Governments and regulatory bodies worldwide have introduced laws and standards, such as the GDPR in Europe and cybersecurity regulations in the U.S., mandating secure data practices for connected devices. Manufacturers in the secure MCU market must now develop solutions that comply with these stringent standards to maintain market eligibility, as non-compliance can result in legal penalties and loss of consumer trust. These regulatory pressures are encouraging continuous innovation in secure MCU technology, promoting features like advanced encryption, secure boot, and device identity verification that are essential for meeting modern compliance requirements.

Restraint Factor for the Secure MCU Market

High Implementation Costs and Budget Constraints, will Limit Market Growth

The high costs associated with secure MCU implementation pose a significant restraint on the market, particularly for cost-sensitive industries and smaller enterprises. Developing and integrating advanced security features—such as encryption modules, secure boot processes, and trusted execution environments—often requires substantial investment in both technology and skilled personnel. For many businesses, especially those in price-competitive markets, these added costs can be a barrier, pushing them to opt for less sec...

In the second quarter of financial year 2025, Microsoft Azure revenue growth stood at 31 percent. Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing service that is used for creating a variety of scalable solutions for different use-cases. Azure's biggest competitors are Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. Microsoft Azure revenue Microsoft does not publish exact details of revenue derived from Azure. Instead, revenues from Azure are integrated in its intelligent cloud segment, which consists of public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services. In 2021, the intelligent cloud segment generated revenues of over 60 billion U.S. dollars, with Azure driving up server products and cloud services revenues specifically. However, Microsoft’s intelligent cloud also features other high-value products, including consulting services and premier support services. Microsoft Azure products and services Through its Azure platform, Microsoft offers a variety of different cloud computing resources to its customers, including virtual desktop, SQL database, or serverless Kubernetes. In mid-2021, there were a total of almost 16,000 products and services offered on the Microsoft Azure marketplace, with the majority listed under the IT and management tools category. The market has responded well to Azure's pricing strategy, with nearly a third of all respondents to a global survey of IT professionals rating Azure as providing the best value for money, more than any other provider

In the fiscal year 2024, Microsoft Corporation spent 24.46 billion U.S. dollars on sales and marketing, the company’s highest annual expenditure to date. In the past decade, Microsoft has slowly increased sales and marketing spending, with the annual figure rising by more than six billion U.S. dollars during that time. Microsoft also spend heavily on research and development, with spending in this domain also amounting to over 29 billion U.S. dollars in FY2024. Microsoft Corporation Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, Microsoft has since grown into one of the most successful tech firms in the world and has experienced decades of continued success. The company’s famous Windows operating system, its lines of consumer electronics, and its popular software packages such as Microsoft Office have become widely popular for both business and personal usage. Continuously innovating and adapting, Microsoft has come to offer different cloud computing services and its intelligence cloud segment has become the biggest revenue earner for the company. Microsoft's cloud offerings include Azure, the infrastructure platform, and Office 365, the collaboration suite. Tech Industry As technology becomes further integrated into nearly all aspects of daily life, companies such as Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft have grown into some of the most powerful entities in the world. Spending in the IT industry alone amounts to trillions of dollars each year, meaning that these tech giants are well-positioned for continued success.

Microsoft Corporation is a major international employer, with around 228 thousand full-time employees worldwide in its 2024 fiscal year. The employees of Microsoft's are distributed over four main business units - Operations, product research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administration. 126 thousand of Microsoft's full-time employees are located in the United States, the company's home market.

Microsoft 365 is used by over two million companies worldwide, with over one million customers in the United States alone using the office suite software. Office 365 is the brand name previously used by Microsoft for a group of software applications providing productivity related services to its subscribers. Office 365 applications include Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams. The consumer and small business plans of Office 365 were renamed as Microsoft 365 on 21 April, 2020. Global office suite market share  An office suite is a collection of software applications (word processing, spreadsheets, database etc.) designed to be used for tasks within an organization. Worldwide market share of office suite technologies is split between Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365, with G Suite controlling around 45 percent of the global market and Office 365 holding around 26 percent. This trend is similar across most worldwide regions.

In 2022, Microsoft's Xbox consoles 360, One and X's gaming hardware revenue amounted to 4 billion U.S. dollars. The latest Xbox Series X and S were released in November 2020 and are expected to boost sales in the following years.

Microsoft’s research and development expenditure amounted to around 29 billion U.S. dollars in its 2024 fiscal year, a record high. Microsoft ranks second among software and computer service companies worldwide in terms of R&D spend, behind only Google’s parent company Alphabet. Microsoft Corporation One of the most successful tech companies worldwide, Microsoft, together with its most famous product, the Windows operating system, has long been a household name. The company’s fiscal year 2021 not only witnessed a record spending for R&D, but also a record high in terms of annual sales – Microsoft brought in 168.08 billion U.S. dollars in net sales that year, proving that their businesses are stronger than ever, after years of continued success. Microsoft's Diverse businesses Some of Microsoft’s major business ventures include the above-mentioned Windows operating system, software packages such as Microsoft Office, various lines of consumer electronics, as well as cloud computing offerings. Microsoft’s productivity and business processes segment, which include products such as Office 365 and LinkedIn, brought in around 53.9 billion U.S. dollars in the 2021 fiscal year.

How many employees does Microsoft have? The American technology company Microsoft employs approximately 228,000 people in full-time positions worldwide. Around 60 percent of Microsoft’s employees are located in the company’s home country the United States. The employees are spread out over four business units: operations (manufacturing, distribution, product support, and consulting services), research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administration. Product portfolio and business segmentsMicrosoft sells a wide range of consumer and enterprise software, hardware, and services. The technology company had a revenue standing at around 245 billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2024, most of which came from the commercial licensing of its software and operating systems. For example, Microsoft Windows is a dominating presence in the desktop operating systems market, with a market share of around 73 percent. Microsoft U.S. tech giant Microsoft is one of the biggest technology companies in the United States next to Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and IBM. Microsoft’s market capitalization has consistently grown to over three trillion U.S. dollars over the period from 2014 to 2024. Today Microsoft is one of the most valuable brands worldwide with a brand value close to 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars, with only Apple having a higher brand value. The fiscal year end of the company is June, 30th.

Microsoft was the largest software and programming company worldwide by net sales from 2017 to 2024. In the most recent year, Microsoft’s sales revenue reached 237 billion U.S. dollars. Oracle and Salesforce ranked in distant second and third places, earning 53 and 35 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Enterprise Software Industry In 2023, the IT spending on enterprise software amounted to 913 billion U.S. dollars worldwide. The enterprise software market is the fastest-growing sector in the IT industry, in comparison to other segments such as IT services and data center systems. The market includes a wide range of applications such as human resource management (HRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), office suites, etc. However, due to the negative economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the market witnessed a decline in 2020 but recovered quickly in 2022. Microsoft Corporation Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft has grown into one of the most successful tech firms in the world and has experienced years of continued success. Microsoft’s core business is its productivity and business process segment, from which the company generated over 245 billion U.S. dollars in its 2022 financial year. Intelligence cloud, another highly prolific segment, brought in a further 105 billion U.S. dollars in that year.

In 2024, Meta Platforms generated a revenue of over 164 billion U.S. dollars, up from 134 billion USD in 2023. The majority of Meta’s profits come from its advertising revenue.Meta’s total Family of Apps revenue for 2022 amounted to 114 billion U.S. dollars. Additionally, Meta’s Reality Labs, the company’s VR division, generated around 2.1 billion dollars. Meta’s marketing expenditure for 2022 amounted to just over 15 billion U.S. dollars, up from 14 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year. Increasing audience base despite privacy misgivings Meta’s user numbers have continued to grow steadily throughout past years. In the fourth quarter of 2022, there was a total of 3.74 billion worldwide users across all of Meta’s platforms. For this same time frame, the company recorded 407 million monthly active users across Europe. Downloads of Meta’s app Oculus, for which virtual reality headsets are required, increased greatly from 2020 to 2021, reaching a total of 10.62 million downloads by the end of last year. Up until 2021, downloads had grown in a steady manner but from 2020 to 2021, they more than doubled.User numbers have increased despite data security issues and past controversy such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. There remains skepticism surrounding the idea of the metaverse in which Meta aims to immerse itself. Of surveyed adults in the United States, the majority said that they were concerned about their privacy if Meta were to succeed in creating the metaverse.

Since its release in November 2020, the Xbox Series X and Series S has sold well over 12 million units worldwide. In 2024 year-to-date, the Xbox X/S sold approximately 2.4 million units. The modern-day console wars While the term “console wars” was originally coined to describe the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo in the video game market during the 1980s and 1990s, the modern usage refers to the battle for supremacy between the PlayStation and Xbox brands. The most recent battle between these console giants has been fought out between their eight-generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. However, while the PlayStation 4 has sold over 45 million units in Europe alone, Microsoft’s console is yet to reach 60 million unit sales worldwide. This duel has also turned into a three-way battle thanks to the enormous success of Nintendo’s hybrid video game console, the Nintendo Switch. Despite being released over three years later than its rivals, the console has already racked up over 140 million unit sales worldwide, approximately a quarter of which were in North America. The future of console gaming This fight for supremacy shows no signs of slowing down, with the next battle of the console wars upon the horizon. Sony continues to have the upper hand, as sales of its PlayStation 5 reached 20 million in 2023. In comparison, estimates have Microsoft shipping 3.1 million units of its Xbox Series X in 2023.

As of August 2024, lifetime unit sales of Xbox One consoles in North America reached nearly 33 million, while in Europe, lifetime unit sales surpassed 12.8 million. In total, nearly 58 million Xbox One units have been sold worldwide as of November 2024. Xbox console history Xbox is a video game brand created by Microsoft, the U.S. technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and a range of other services. The Xbox video game console is the most widely known product under the Xbox umbrella, with the first Xbox console released in North America in November 2001, and worldwide the following year. Since then, Microsoft has released a further four video game consoles – Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Console competitors Of the all-time sales of video game consoles, Microsoft registers just one device, the Xbox 360, in the top ten. Looking more closely toward the top of the list, Sony registers two of its products in the top five, with Nintendo’s DS, Game Boy and Switch devices making up the rest. In terms of lifetime sales, Sony has sold nearly twice as many of its PlayStation 4 consoles compared to the Xbox One. This trend is expected to continue with the latest generation of PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

The Americas is Salesforce’s largest regional market, bringing in about 23 billion U.S. dollars for the software company in its 2023 fiscal year ending in January 2024. The overall revenue in that year reached 35 billion U.S. dollars, a record high. Subscription and support is Salesforce’s most prolific business division – sales in this segment contributed 33 billion U.S. dollars to its overall revenue. Salesforce: a top CRM and SaaS player A cloud-based software company known for its wide range of customer-relationship management (CRM) offerings, Salesforce is one of the largest software and programming companies worldwide. Over the years, its leading position in the CRM software market has strengthened – its market share in 2020 came to 22 percent, more than four times the market presence of runner-up Microsoft. In the global public cloud SaaS market, Salesforce overtook Microsoft in 2019, and had a 9.3 percent share in 2020. Salesforce's cloud offerings Salesforce's cloud offerings are divided into the following categories: sales, service, marketing and commerce, as well as platform and other, which includes their Customer 360 PaaS solution and integration, analytics, and productivity offerings. Services and sales are the largest segments, with each bringing in about seven and eight billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2024. Platform and other subsegments brought in over six billion U.S. dollars in the same fiscal year, while the marketing and commerce subsegment contributed to just under four billion U.S. dollars.