Big tech plans $700B AI spend

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are heading into another earnings stretch with one question hanging over all four: how much more they will spend to build artificial-intelligence infrastructure. (cnbc.com) (microsoft.com) (investor.atmeta.com) (ir.aboutamazon.com) (abc.xyz) The spending is not mainly about hiring software engineers. It is about buying graphics processors, networking gear and power, then packing them into new data centers that can train and run large AI models. (cnbc.com) (about.fb.com) (aws.amazon.com) Meta gave the clearest number so far. On January 28, it said 2026 capital expenditures would be $115 billion to $135 billion, up from $72.22 billion in 2025. (investor.atmeta.com) (about.fb.com) (sec.gov) Meta has tied that increase to its Superintelligence Labs effort and its core ad business. In March, it said four new generations of Meta Training and Inference Accelerator chips are coming within two years. (about.fb.com 1) (about.fb.com 2) Amazon has not yet reported first-quarter 2026 results, but it already said 2025 capital expenditures would rise to $100 billion, with the vast majority going to AI data centers. Its next earnings call is scheduled for April 29. (aws.amazon.com) (ir.aboutamazon.com) Microsoft’s filings show the same pattern. In its fiscal first quarter, capital expenditures were $34.9 billion, and in fiscal second quarter results it said margins were pressured by continued investments in AI infrastructure. (microsoft.com 1) (microsoft.com 2) Alphabet’s latest full-year call showed the revenue side of the bet. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google Cloud revenue grew 48% and backlog reached $240 billion, driven by demand for AI products. (abc.xyz) Wall Street’s running total for the four companies has landed around $650 billion to $700 billion for 2026. Bloomberg called it a capital-spending boom without a parallel this century, and CNBC said the combined outlay would approach $700 billion. (bloomberg.com) (cnbc.com) That estimate is still moving because Microsoft, Meta and Amazon all have fresh reports due this week. Meta and Microsoft report on April 29, and Amazon reports the same day after the market closes. (investor.atmeta.com) (microsoft.com) (ir.aboutamazon.com) The thread running through all of it is simple: the biggest tech companies are treating compute like the next strategic utility. Their next earnings calls will show whether investors still accept that trade. (cnbc.com) (bloomberg.com)