Hyperscalers Boost AI Capex to $470 Billion in 2026: The Infrastructure War

Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon are expected to boost capital expenditures to over $470 billion in 2026, up from approximately $350 billion in 2025. The AI infrastructure arms race is accelerating.

The Spending Breakdown

While individual company numbers aren’t finalized, the combined hyperscaler capex increase represents:

  • $120+ billion increase year-over-year
  • ~34% growth in infrastructure spending
  • Focus on AI training clusters, inference infrastructure, and data centers

What They’re Building

  • Microsoft: Azure AI infrastructure, OpenAI partnership commitments
  • Meta: Prometheus AI Supercluster, 6.6GW nuclear contracts
  • Google: TPU infrastructure, Gemini training clusters
  • Amazon: AWS AI infrastructure, custom chips (Trainium, Inferentia)

The Investor Question

With Big Tech earnings season underway, investors are scrutinizing whether this massive spending will deliver returns. The question: are we building the infrastructure for a transformative technology, or overbuilding based on hype?

The Comparison

OpenAI alone has committed $1.4 trillion through 2035. The hyperscalers’ $470B annual spend, while enormous, is actually more conservative relative to revenue—these companies can afford experimentation that startups cannot.

Source: CNBC

Scroll to Top

Discover more from FourWeekMBA

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

FourWeekMBA