Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (pictured), revealed more than 2,500 customers signed up to its Azure OpenAI service since January, laying battle lines with major competitor Google by stating his company had the world’s most-powerful AI infrastructure.

The software giant’s AI activities largely dominated its latest earnings announcement, with it stating Azure customers rose 27 per cent year-on-year in its fiscal Q3 2023 (calendar Q1) since it added an array of AI features including large language model ChatGPT and an updated version GPT-4.

Microsoft this year announced it is investing billions in developer OpenAI, the maker of the popular AI generative language systems.

Nadella also said search engine Bing had hit 100 million daily users, with usage surging since adding AI features. Daily installs of the Bing mobile app had also grown four-times over the quarter since its launch.

As Microsoft continues to push AI, it has encountered competition from Google, which has introduced its own Bard AI chatbot to compete with ChatGPT, along with pumping money into developer Anthropic.

Nadella was bullish in Microsoft’s approach, stating it had the most powerful set-up, being trained by partners including OpenAI, Nvidia and leading start-ups.

“Our Azure OpenAI service brings together advanced models, including ChatGPT and GPT4 with the enterprise capabilities of Azure,” he said.

Nadella added advanced AI models were coming together with the world’s most universal user interface, natural language, to create a new era of computing.

Richard Windsor, founder of research blog Radio Free Mobile, stated Microsoft had stuck the knife “further into Google” by claiming leadership in AI, and being the place to come for generative services.

Microsoft’s net income grew 9 per cent to 18.3 billion with revenue up 7 per cent to $52.9 billion.