According to CRN, Oracle reported Q2 fiscal 2025 earnings for the period ending November 30, with total revenue hitting $16.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year ignoring foreign exchange. Cloud revenue was the star, accelerating to $8 billion—a 33% increase—while infrastructure revenue alone surged 66% to $4.1 billion, with GPU-related revenue more than doubling. The company now has over 700 AI customers on its platform, including most large model providers, and handed over almost 400 megawatts of new data center capacity last quarter. Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk sought to clarify the capital strategy for funding massive AI infrastructure buildouts, insisting the amount of money raised would be “substantially less” than the $100 billion some analysts forecast. Meanwhile, co-CEO Mike Sicilia emphasized Oracle’s unique position as the “only applications company” selling complete suites, with cloud apps revenue growing 11% to $3.9 billion.
Oracle’s Capital Conundrum
Here’s the thing that stuck out from the call: everyone is worried about the capital costs of the AI gold rush. And Magouyrk spent a good chunk of time trying to calm those nerves. He basically said Wall Street doesn’t get all their options. They’re not just writing blank checks. They’re getting creative with financing—letting some customers rent capacity instead of buy it, or even bring their own chips. That saves Oracle huge upfront costs. He also stressed they won’t blow up their investment-grade debt rating to build data centers. So the message is, “We’re growing like crazy, but we’re not being reckless about it.” Seems like the new guard is trying to project a more financially disciplined image than the old Oracle might have.
The Apps Argument vs. The Infrastructure Play
This is where the two-CEO structure gets interesting. You had Magouyrk talking bare-metal spin-up times and GPU capacity, while Sicilia was all about selling software suites. Their combined pitch is that Oracle isn’t just another hyperscaler fighting for AI infrastructure scraps—it’s also not a best-of-breed app vendor. Sicilia’s argument is that in the AI era, companies are tired of stitching together a dozen different apps. They want integrated systems where AI can work across everything. And Oracle, with its Fusion apps, industry-specific apps, and database, claims to offer that. It’s a compelling story, especially if you believe the “best-of-breed fatigue” is real. But is it enough to pull customers away from Salesforce, SAP, or Workday? That’s the billion-dollar question.
Multicloud Is The Secret Sauce
Maybe the most underrated part of Oracle’s story right now is multicloud. Look, their infrastructure business is growing at a stunning rate, but it’s still tiny compared to AWS or Azure. So how do they compete? By being the easiest cloud to use *with* AWS, Azure, and Google. Their multicloud database business grew ninefold last quarter. NINEFOLD. They’re literally building data centers inside their competitors’ clouds. That’s a brilliant flanking move. It makes Oracle the ” Switzerland of cloud ” for companies who are already locked into Azure but need Oracle Database, or who are on AWS but want OCI’s AI performance. This neutrality, including their new “chip neutrality” policy after selling their Ampere stake, could be a huge long-term advantage. While other giants are pushing their own custom silicon, Oracle is just saying, “Tell us what chip you want, we’ll run it.”
A Changing Of The Guard
The real subtext of the whole call was the noticeable shift in who was talking. Larry Ellison, the legendary founder and CTO, was uncharacteristically quiet. The two co-CEOs, Magouyrk and Sicilia, handled the vast majority of the analyst Q&A. This feels symbolic. The old era of Oracle was about the database and Larry’s vision. The new era, as they’re framing it, is about a dual engine: hyperscale AI infrastructure *and* integrated AI-powered enterprise applications. They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too. The financials, for now, support the hype—cloud revenue growth is accelerating, and remaining performance obligations (basically future revenue) ballooned to $523 billion. But the pressure is now squarely on the new CEOs to execute this capital-intensive, two-front war without tripping over the financial discipline they just promised. It’s a high-wire act, but Q2 proves they’re moving fast.
