Remember when tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) pulled back on its carbon credit plans? The idea that Microsoft would go carbon neutral by 2030 seems to be on the rocks, and may be out the window altogether. The news meant little to shareholders, as Microsoft shares were up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Basically, Microsoft seems to have realized that it will need a lot of electricity to drive artificial intelligence (AI) operations going forward. That means it will need a lot more kilowatt-hours, and a lot more carbon going into the process. So Microsoft’s ability to quietly buy credits and sweep it all under the ecological rug is a much less likely proposition than it was only recently.
Naturally, the discussions are still ongoing, and Microsoft has made no official decision yet on the matter. But the idea that Microsoft may be abandoning a nice-to-have bit of environmental, social and governance (ESG) brownie points in favor of an actual revenue stream is not that hard to believe. That is particularly so at a time when anything “woke” is coming under increasing fire.
Big Changes for the Xbox Division
Meanwhile, big changes are in the making for the Xbox division, and not just the new system likely to hit next year. New reports suggest that Xbox has completely abandoned the idea of getting Copilot in on Xbox systems, and has also staged some changes in who runs the show.
Current Xbox head Asha Sharma noted that Xbox was “…refocusing our AI efforts to solving player problems like enhancing real-time graphics, improving discovery, and deepening personalization.” Further, Sharma announced plans to rebuild the entire Xbox leadership team, with some Microsoft CoreAI engineering group names making the jump as well. While it may be a good idea to get new blood in place, especially ahead of a new system launch, getting rid of a lot of institutional knowledge before said launch has its drawbacks as well.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 32 Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 5.07% loss in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $556.23 per share implies 34.55% upside potential.
