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









