Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reported a 27.8-per-cent increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, lifted by robust demand for its cloud computing services.

The company's net income rose to US$4.80 billion, or 61 cents US per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from US$3.76 billion, or 47 cents US per share, a year earlier.

Revenue on an adjusted basis climbed six per cent to US$23.56 billion.

Under Chief Executive Satya Nadella, who took the helm in 2014, Microsoft has sharpened its focus on the fast-growing cloud computing unit to counter a prolonged slowdown in the PC market, which has weighed on demand for its Windows software.

The company's flagship cloud computing platform, Azure, competes with Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) Amazon Web Services, the market leader in cloud infrastructure.