SAN FRANCISCO, May 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) said Thursday that its greener cloud services can save customers up to 93 percent of energy and carbon efficiency than traditional computing.

In a report that it compiled in partnership with consultant WSP Global, Microsoft said there was significant energy and carbon emissions reduction from the Microsoft Cloud when compared with traditional on-premises datacenters.

"These gains, as much as 93 percent more energy efficient and as high as 98 percent more carbon efficient, are due to Microsoft's extensive investments in IT efficiency from chip-to-datacenter infrastructure," Microsoft said.

Microsoft tested its Azure cloud computing and storage service, its Exchange Online email system, and SharePoint Online collaboration software, found that efficiencies achieved from Microsoft's cloud investment have been translated into both energy and carbon savings for Microsoft and customers using Microsoft Cloud services.

Small systems running at a company are the most inefficient, and Sharepoint can save up to 93 percent energy, according to the latest report.

The improvements resulted from Microsoft's investment in buying renewable energy for its massive data center operations and its employment of energy-saving technology like programmable chips that use artificial intelligence to regulate data traffic on servers.

"Today's report confirms what we've long believed - that investing in sustainability is good for business, good for customers and good for the planet," said Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer for Microsoft.

With more regions than any other cloud provider, Microsoft provides cloud services to customers around the world.

"As customers across all industries move to the cloud, sustainability and environmental responsibility are key factors in their choice of cloud provider," said the software giant based in Redmond, Washington state on the U.S. west coast.