Intelligent Cloud — Deferred Revenue
Microsoft Intelligent Cloud — Deferred Revenue decreased by 4.7% to $10.89B in Q1 2026 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric grew by 6.4%, from $10.24B to $10.89B. Over 4 years (FY 2021 to FY 2025), Intelligent Cloud — Deferred Revenue shows a downward trend with a -5.5% CAGR. This decline may warrant attention — for this metric, higher values are generally preferred.
Analysis
How to read this metric
An increase suggests strong sales momentum and growing multi-year commitments from enterprise customers, while a decrease may indicate a slowdown in new contract signings or faster revenue recognition than new bookings.
Detailed definition
This metric represents the deferred revenue or unearned income specifically associated with Microsoft's Intelligent Clou...
Peer comparison
Similar to Deferred Revenue or Unearned Revenue at cloud-computing peers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud.
msft_segment_intelligent_cloud_contract_with_customer_liabilityHistorical Data
| Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | Q1 '26 | Q2 '26 | Q3 '26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $17.71B | $16.12B | $14.55B | $14.52B | $19.37B | $17.29B | $15.82B | $15.55B | $21.56B | $19.47B | $17.70B | $16.70B | $13.68B | $12.40B | $10.98B | $10.24B | $14.02B | $12.66B | $11.43B | $10.89B |
| QoQ Change | — | -9.0% | -9.7% | -0.2% | +33.4% | -10.7% | -8.5% | -1.7% | +38.7% | -9.7% | -9.1% | -5.7% | -18.0% | -9.4% | -11.4% | -6.7% | +36.9% | -9.7% | -9.7% | -4.7% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | +9.4% | +7.3% | +8.7% | +7.1% | +11.3% | +12.6% | +11.8% | +7.4% | -36.5% | -36.3% | -38.0% | -38.7% | +2.5% | +2.1% | +4.1% | +6.4% |
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Microsoft's intelligent cloud — deferred revenue?
- Microsoft (MSFT) reported intelligent cloud — deferred revenue of $10.89B in Q1 2026.
- How has Microsoft's intelligent cloud — deferred revenue changed year-over-year?
- Microsoft's intelligent cloud — deferred revenue increased by 6.4% year-over-year, from $10.24B to $10.89B.
- What is the long-term trend for Microsoft's intelligent cloud — deferred revenue?
- Over 4 years (2021 to 2025), Microsoft's intelligent cloud — deferred revenue has grown at a -5.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from $59.63B to $47.64B.
- What does intelligent cloud — deferred revenue mean?
- This is money customers have paid upfront for cloud services and software that Microsoft hasn't fully delivered yet.