Microsoft's AI Capabilities Are Underappreciated

Artificial Intelligence ("AI") is a megatrend that all technology companies are paying attention to. Gartner estimates the value businesses derive from AI will reach $1.2 trillion this year (Source: Gartner Says Global Artificial Intelligence Business Value to Reach $1.2 Trillion in 2018). When most investors think about ways to invest along this AI theme, common ideas are to invest in AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), the intelligence search engine/everyday research assistant Google (GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), or the everything store that is gathering data on everyone's shopping behavior Amazon (AMZN). Microsoft (MSFT) doesn't often come up in this conversion, but it probably should. Since taking over as CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella has made AI a major focus.