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According to reports from the Korean News Agency, Microsoft's Threat Intelligence team analyzed the AI application levels of 8 North Korean hacker groups. Among them, 3 have entered the "Operational Solidification" stage, which is the highest level in the 4-level classification. Additionally, 4 organizations are in the "Acceleration" stage, and 1 is in the "Expansion" stage. One organization generated over 100 customized PDF bait documents targeting South Korean users between August and September, with some documents being able to be produced in batches of dozens within minutes.According to South Korean security company Genians, the North Korean hacker group Kimsuky has built a local large language model and RAG environment in August this year, leaving behind a significant amount of usage records for the AI code editor Cursor. The Microsoft report also mentioned that these organizations may have used the agent AI penetration testing tool ARTEX. Microsoft also assessed that these organizations have not yet reached the stage of fully autonomous attacks, and the actual impact of AI on the success rate and cost of attacks remains inconclusive.According to analysis by the American security company TRM Labs, approximately $6.36 billion in funds from 10 Binance blockchain wallets were stolen in about 20 minutes, and the organization believes that North Korean group TraderTraitor is behind it. It has not yet been confirmed whether this attack utilized AI.

As concerns about the sustainability of heavy investments in AI by tech giants grow in the market, the four major tech companies—Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon—updated their capital expenditure expectations for 2026 in the third fiscal quarter, showing a divergence in overall expansion pace. Based on current data, the combined capital expenditure cap for the four companies in 2026 is expected to exceed $74 billion, a significant increase from the actual total capital expenditure of $45.58 billion in 2025.Specifically, Meta has further raised the lower end of its full-year spending guidance, with the third-quarter expectation set at $135 billion to $145 billion, higher than the mid-year expectation of $130 billion to $145 billion. Microsoft has lowered its third-quarter expectation to $170 billion, down from the mid-year expectation of $175 billion, but official comments state that the change in figures is due to accounting adjustments, and the actual AI infrastructure investment plan remains unchanged from the beginning of the year. The capital expenditure expectations for Alphabet and Amazon remain unchanged, at $195 billion to $205 billion and $220 billion, respectively.

According to a report released by Microsoft Threat Intelligence on the 29th, North Korean hacker groups are using artificial intelligence to accelerate cyberattacks on South Korean users, expanding from customized phishing documents, fake recruitment, and identity disguise to malicious code development and software supply chain attacks. Microsoft assessed the AI adoption levels of eight North Korean-related hacker organizations: three have reached the highest "Operational Maturity" stage at level four, integrating AI into their daily attack processes; four are in the "Acceleration" stage, and one is in the "Expansion" stage.The report states that organized groups customized and generated over 100 PDF bait documents targeting different objectives between August and September this year, with instances of producing dozens of documents in just a few minutes. From June 8 to 12 this year, there were also cases of using three disguised companies to initiate fake recruitment invitations to professionals in AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity. Additionally, Microsoft analyzed that North Korean hackers might use AI programming tools like Cursor to assist in code generation, debugging, and evading detection; the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau's "Onyx Sleet" (referred to as Andariel by South Korea) and "Pearl Sleet" have been using the open-source AI penetration testing framework ARTEX in real operations since late October. Microsoft believes that while these organizations have enhanced their attack speed and efficiency with AI, they have not yet entered a fully autonomous attack phase and recommends that companies strengthen identity verification for job applicants, phishing protection, and malicious code detection.

Market news reports that Microsoft (MSFT.O) plans to raise at least $25 billion through the issuance of U.S. bonds.

Yorkville Ives analysts pointed out that Microsoft's financial report shows its cloud computing capacity is sufficient to meet the enormous market demand. Microsoft Azure's revenue exceeded Wall Street expectations, becoming a key factor in stock performance.Before the financial report, the market had already seen AI-driven demand, but there were doubts about the speed of capacity release. Microsoft's promised future expenditure scale is $677 billion, with confirmed revenue expected to increase in the next 12 months. On Thursday before the market opened, Microsoft's stock price rose 2.7% against the trend.

Microsoft expects its Azure cloud business revenue to grow by 49% to 50% in the second fiscal quarter, with total revenue reaching between 96 billion and 97.1 billion dollars.Revenue from the Intelligent Cloud and Infrastructure segment is expected to be between 80.1 billion and 80.7 billion dollars, while revenue from the Devices and Consumer segment is projected to be between 15.9 billion and 16.4 billion dollars. Microsoft also anticipates that capital expenditures in the second fiscal quarter will exceed 50 billion dollars.

According to Gate market data, Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose by 6% in after-hours trading.

Microsoft announced that its quarterly cloud business revenue exceeded expectations, with Azure cloud computing revenue growing by 48% to reach $33.17 billion, surpassing the market expectation of $32.84 billion. The company's free cash flow was $18.6 billion, far exceeding the market expectation of $8.54 billion. Microsoft’s stock rose nearly 6% in after-hours trading.

Microsoft (MSFT.O) reported that for the three months ended September 30, revenue from its commercial arrangement with OpenAI was $10 billion.

Google and Microsoft will announce their financial reports after the U.S. stock market closes.

Former Microsoft executive Peter Sellis announced that he has joined Elon Musk's social platform X, responsible for product operations. He stated that he will promote improvements in X's product experience, as well as the growth of global users and business operations, and mentioned the goal of bringing online posting into the "interplanetary era."Peter Sellis previously led design, engineering, and growth in Microsoft's AI department and served as Senior Vice President of Product at Discord and Vice President of Product at Snap. X's former product head and Solana advisor Nikita Bier previously worked in Sellis's team at Discord.

According to a report by Financial Associated Press, Microsoft announced on October 26 local time that it will offer a voluntary severance compensation plan to approximately 60,000 employees to reduce costs and adjust its workforce for the AI era. More than a quarter of the total employee count is eligible, marking the company's third round of workforce adjustments this year.A spokesperson stated that some vice presidents and below in the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom are eligible to apply, and those who accept the plan will receive benefits similar to standard severance packages. According to informed sources, departments such as Xbox, Windows, Copilot, and finance will fully participate, while some employees in data centers, sales, marketing, cybersecurity, and quantum computing will not be eligible. Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman mentioned in an internal letter that the plan provides an option for employees considering leaving to transition with the company's support, and it is another way for departments to adjust their teams. The spokesperson also noted that if top talent accepts the plan, the company will attempt to retain them in some cases.In April this year, Microsoft launched its first voluntary retirement program for about 8,750 eligible U.S. employees, with over 30% ultimately accepting; in July, it announced layoffs of approximately 4,800 people, accounting for about 2.1% of the total workforce. The spokesperson expects the number of acceptances this time to be far less than the voluntary retirement program. As of the end of June, Microsoft had a total of 223,000 employees. According to the financial report on July 29, capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $41 billion, a year-on-year increase of about 70%, and capital expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 are expected to be about $50 billion.

According to a report by Financial Associated Press, based on the IPO filing released by Anthropic on Monday, sales generated from the cloud markets of the three major cloud service providers—Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—accounted for 48% of Anthropic's total revenue in the first half of 2026, up from 11% in 2023. These cloud service providers collect payments from customers and transfer them to Anthropic after deducting fees, with payments to channel partners increasing by $2.7 billion year-on-year in the first half of this year. The document shows that Anthropic's sales in the second quarter were $11.555 billion, with an operating profit of $974 million.The S-1 describes the aforementioned cloud service providers as simultaneously acting as investors, customers, distribution partners, and competitors, stating that they can understand Anthropic's pricing and commercial terms. It also mentions that these companies may prioritize promoting their own AI models, raising antitrust concerns. The document lists the minimum commitments for computing power as follows: at least $114.5 billion to Google by 2033, at least $110 billion to Amazon by 2036, and $44.9 billion to Microsoft; the minimum commitments remain valid regardless of whether the computing power is actually used. Additionally, it is expected that between 2028 and 2031, $125 billion to $150 billion will be paid for additional TPU computing power.In terms of equity, Amazon and Google currently hold shares without voting rights and are not included in the list of securities with more than 5% voting rights; after the IPO conversion, both will exceed 5% ownership of preferred shares and certain convertible notes. Amazon has invested approximately $18 billion to date and has committed to invest up to an additional $15 billion under specific conditions, with related notes convertible into a maximum of 1.84 billion shares, equivalent to 10.9% of fully diluted shares as of June this year, and subject to a 12% ownership cap. Google has invested approximately $23 billion and has committed to invest an additional $20 billion upon meeting certain conditions, with the latest agreement having a maximum ownership cap of 14.99%. The document also lists a $161.2 billion equipment leasing agreement related to Broadcom, as well as a computing power procurement arrangement with SpaceXAI for up to $120.5 billion.

According to Zhitong Finance, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee maintains a "Buy" rating on Microsoft with a target price of $625. The research report states that investors will closely monitor the business growth of Azure, the commercial version of Microsoft 365 Cloud, and Copilot.Chatterjee indicated that compared to the quarterly earnings report itself, the stock price reaction may be more determined by performance outlook, as investors hope to see sustainable signals of growth in cloud business and artificial intelligence.Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives maintained a "Outperform" rating on Microsoft with a target price of $615 on Friday, and listed Microsoft as one of his "Top 5 Tech Picks Before 2027." Ives stated that the concentrated earnings reports from large cloud providers like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are expected to soothe the highly volatile market.

According to Sveriges Radio, the Swedish government office announced that starting from October 26 (Monday), ChatGPT and Claude will be banned on employee computers, with Microsoft Copilot approved as the only AI tool that has passed security review, and civil servants are required to switch to using Copilot.Mikael Wettercrantz, the agency's Director of Digitalization, stated in a post on the employee intranet that using AI services without a formal contract could "have consequences for our information security." He noted that multiple cases of improper use of open AI services have been identified, involving the sensitivity of the information inputted and the handling of AI-generated content. Due to the lack of formal agreements, consumer-grade AI tools send user queries to external company servers, and U.S. law allows authorities to request these companies to hand over data as required.Copilot is allowed to remain because the government office enhanced its security settings after review, while ChatGPT and Claude did not receive the same treatment. Some employees can still access these two banned tools through the AI platform built internally by the agency. Previously, the Swedish Tax Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare had implemented similar bans, and the enforcement agency is also about to make a decision; an internal audit by the Transport Agency found about 10 AI services being "widely and at high risk" used.

According to Microsoft's 10-K filing for fiscal year 2026, as of June 30, 2026, the company had approximately 223,000 full-time employees, down from 228,000 the previous year, a decrease of about 5,000, marking the first decline in ten years.Among them, there are 121,000 employees in the United States and 102,000 employees overseas; approximately 77,000 employees are in research and development, a decrease of about 4,000 from the peak in 2024. During the same period, Microsoft's revenue for fiscal year 2026 increased by 18% year-on-year, reaching $331.8 billion.The above employee statistics do not include the new round of approximately 4,800 job cuts in July 2026. Microsoft previously stated that the eliminated positions would not be directly replaced by AI.

According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, Microsoft has withdrawn from a large artificial intelligence data center project developed by the UK data center company Nscale in Essex, with reports indicating that the withdrawal is related to concerns over power supply. Officials from the UK National Grid had informed Nscale that the power supply for the data center is not expected to be in place until the 2030s. Nscale is exploring whether it can generate power on-site and whether it can expedite the grid connection process.The project was previously referred to by the UK government as the largest data center in the UK, originally scheduled to open next year. As of the report, the site still appears to be just a scaffolding yard. Microsoft had originally planned to fund the construction of a supercomputer, but the collaboration has now been terminated. Following the termination of the related computing power transaction, Nscale lost its only publicly announced client for the data center in Essex. Nscale stated that its relationship with Microsoft remains strong and long-lasting, and the two parties will continue to collaborate on other overseas projects, with Microsoft still participating in another project in Norway.The Starmer government highlighted this project when announcing the UK's 2025 artificial intelligence strategy, calling it the largest autonomous artificial intelligence data center in the UK. Nscale has received support from several tech companies, including Nvidia, and plans to go public in the US this year, with a valuation potentially reaching $35 billion.

According to CryptoSlate, Microsoft and the cybersecurity organization Health-ISAC have obtained a court order in the United States to seize and redirect the domains supporting three services: YAM Store, CoGUI, and Iron Man. These three services sell stolen accounts and phishing tools to fraudsters. Since January of this year, they have assisted in sending over 1 billion phishing messages, targeting more than 75,000 institutions across over 150 countries, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the operators.Microsoft has disabled over 20,000 accounts associated with YAM Store and continues to block more than 100,000 counterfeit and fraudulent domains. According to Microsoft's investigation, these services accept payments in USDT (Tron network) and ETH, and Cloudflare stated that buyers can also use USDC for payments. Blockchain analytics company TRM Labs assisted investigators in locating and freezing related assets, but the amount frozen has not been disclosed.