LONDON/MILAN (Reuters) - Microsoft shares fell in Europe on Thursday after it issued a downbeat forecast for its cloud business, while Facebook parent Meta shares rose after beating expectations, as investors scrutinised the companies' spending on artificial intelligence.

Microsoft shares traded down 4.5% on the Frankfurt market, having fallen a similar amount in after-hours trading on Wednesday and finishing the regular session down 1.1%.

Meta shares opened up 2.5% in Germany, having risen 2.1% after the closing bell and ending the regular session up 0.3%.

Days after Chinese upstart DeepSeek revealed a breakthrough in cheap AI computing that shook the U.S. technology industry, the chief executives of Microsoft and Meta defended massive spending that they said was key to staying competitive in the new field.