Financial · Tom's Hardware
Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon capex spending to hit $725B in 2026, up 77% from last year — analyst confirms bear thesis is 'garbage'
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Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta collectively plan to spend $725 billion on capex in 2026, up 77% from last year's record $410 billion, according to first-quarter earnings compiled by the Financial Times.
Key facts
- Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta collectively plan to spend $725 billion on capex in 2026, up 77% from last year's record $410 billion, according to first-quarter earnings compiled
- Microsoft set its calendar-year 2026 capex at $190 billion, well above the $152 billion average analyst estimate
- Alphabet posted an 81% increase in net income to $62.6 billion on revenue of $110 billion
- The company's cloud contract backlog reached $460 billion, roughly double the $240 billion reported at the end of Q4 2025
Summary
"The AI economy is healthy," Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies, told the Financial Times, adding that recent revenue growth justified the enormous capital outlays. Microsoft set its calendar-year 2026 capex at $190 billion, well above the $152 billion average analyst estimate. Meta increased its full-year projection by $10 billion to a range topping $145 billion. Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management, told the Financial Times that investors are growing uneasy with Meta's escalating infrastructure costs, questioning whether a historically lean business is becoming far more capital-hungry.