Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM) surged 11.22% during Thursday’s pre-market trading session after the company delivered a solid quarterly beat, with surging AI demand emerging as a key growth driver.

Salesforce reported second quarter revenue of $11.35 billion, beating estimates of $11.32 billion, while adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share significantly surpassed expectations of $3.27. Revenue grew 11% year over year, while remaining performance obligations rose 11% to $66.5 billion.

CEO Marc Benioff highlighted strong demand for Salesforce’s AI and data products, with AI-related annual recurring revenue approaching $4 billion.

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Salesforce Bets Big On Claude AI

Salesforce also announced a "Claudeforce" partnership with Anthropic, integrating Claude’s advanced reasoning capabilities with Salesforce’s enterprise platform. CEO Marc Benioff said the collaboration will combine Claude’s intelligence with Salesforce’s trusted data, workflows and governance to create an AI interface capable of thinking, reasoning and taking action across businesses.

Meanwhile, Benioff dismissed fears of an AI-driven "SaaSpocalypse", saying it’s time for the dire market predictions to stop. He argued that AI is strengthening rather than replacing enterprise software. Salesforce posted its strongest net-new Annual Order Value growth in four years, while customer attrition remained near record lows.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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