Amazon's next big business, Satya Nadella's DIY app, and a VC's rallying cry for Seattle tech

This week on the GeekWire podcast: Microsoft and Amazon both reported quarterly numbers, and both stocks rose on cloud results that beat expectations. Is all that AI spending paying off? And in related news, Microsoft sees a rare annual headcount decline, hitting product R&D hardest. Plus: Satya Nadella builds a Power BI dashboard out of an analyst’s research report, and touts it on the earnings call to make a bigger point. Jeff Bezos names Amazon’s chips business as the long-awaited fourth pillar. And AI House managing director Jacob Colker delivers a much-needed pep talk for Seattle tech, calling on the region to recognize and build on its strengths.

Microsoft and Amazon earnings

Microsoft Azure tops $100B in annual revenue as record AI spending cuts into cash flow

AWS is ‘booming,’ but Amazon’s free cash flow turns negative on record AI spending

Microsoft R&D jobs drop for second straight year as total headcount falls for first time in a decade

Which Microsoft businesses are growing and shrinking, according to obscure table in regulatory filing

Amazon’s fourth pillar

Jeff Bezos says this business is becoming Amazon’s next ‘pillar’

A rallying cry for Seattle tech

Watch: A venture capitalist’s passionate speech, a rallying cry, really, about Seattle

Seattle’s AI2 Incubator rebrands as AI House, and adds key investor as managing director

‘I’m tired of that narrative’: Seattle VC pushes back on tech exodus talk

The Washington tech ecosystem

New map traces Washington state’s tech ‘universe’ to a few key hubs, and shows what’s at risk

After hiring AWS exec and raising $107M seed round, Virginia startup plants flag in Seattle area