<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — If there\u2019s any lesson to take from the spending plans issued by the world\u2019s largest technology companies over the past two weeks, it\u2019s to never underestimate the fear of missing out.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Microsoft Corp., which set a $24.2 billion capital spending record last quarter, plans to drop upwards of $30 billion in the current period. Amazon.com Inc. similarly spent $31.4 billion last quarter, almost double what it dropped a year ago, and is maintaining that level of investment. Google owner Alphabet Inc. raised its capital expenditures guidance this year to $85 billion. \u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Then there\u2019s Meta Platforms Inc.: The social networking giant lifted the low end of its forecast for 2025 capital expenditures and projected that costs will continue to grow at an even faster pace next year. Altogether, the four companies are expected to spend more than $344 billion for the year, with much of it going to the data centers necessary to run AI models. \u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve basically tripled capex investment in cloud due to AI,\u201d Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The emphasis from virtually every company executive during this earnings season was on investing as quickly as possible to get ahead. \u201cWe need the teams to execute at their very best to get the capacity in place as quickly and effectively as they can,\u201d Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told analysts in a call Wednesday. Susan Li, Meta\u2019s CFO, said the goal of its own spend is to secure the advantage \u201cin developing the best AI models.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Wall Street\u2019s response has been mixed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Meta was rewarded \u2014 in large part because the company posted a strong second-quarter sales beat and issued a rosy revenue forecast, signaling that the billions it\u2019s spending on AI are paying off. \u201cOn advertising, the strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on an analyst call. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Zuckerberg has plans to build several massive data centers and has been luring top AI researchers with compensation packages valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. The company recently restructured its internal AI division, now referred to as Meta Superintelligence Labs, in an effort to build human-level AI capabilities and apply that technology across its products.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Shares of the company have gained more than 8% since it reported earnings on Wednesday.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Amazon, on the other hand, failed to convince investors that its lavish spending has been worth it. The stock was down as much as 8.1% on Friday after the company reported tepid sales from its cloud division. The results were \u201cespecially disappointing\u201d given the strong performance from Google\u2019s and Microsoft\u2019s own cloud services, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And the ongoing capital costs won\u2019t help. The operating margin for Amazon\u2019s cloud unit will continue to face pressure \u201cthrough 2026 as capital spending ramps up,\u201d BI analysts Poonam Goyal and Anurag Rana said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Alphabet\u2019s shares are essentially unchanged from last week when it reported earnings and issued guidance. The company raised its capital expenditures outlook by $10 billion and expects to ramp up spending even more in 2026. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai explained that the investments are necessary to keep up with customer demand. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cObviously, we are seeing strong momentum across our portfolio, and especially in cloud,\u201d Pichai told analysts in a call on July 23. \u201cIt\u2019s a tight supply environment, and we are investing more to expand.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Nikhil Lai, an analyst at Forrester, put it another way: If Google wants to keep up with rivals, he said, it has little choice but to follow suit: \u201cGoogle\u2019s hand is forced by OpenAI to spend tremendously on AI\u2019s infrastructure and applications.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Microsoft tied its AI investments directly to a 39% jump in sales for its Azure cloud-computing division, which came in ahead of analysts\u2019 estimates. \u201cWe continue to lead the AI infrastructure wave and took share every quarter this year,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a call with analysts on July 30.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIn Microsoft\u2019s case, the returns are good,\u201d Gil Luria, an analyst with DA Davidson & Co., said in an interview. The only question now is whether Microsoft\u2019s customers are in turn seeing a decent return on investment, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where the test will be,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t, they\u2019re not going to increase that spend next year.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Apple Inc.\u2019s capital plans pale in comparison to its big tech peers. But the iPhone maker did raise its spending estimates, tying much of the increase to AI efforts. Apple\u2019s property, plant and equipment investments totaled $9.47 billion in the nine months ended June 28, up nearly 45% from a year ago. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cYou are going to continue to see our capex grow,\u201d Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh told analysts on Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow, substantially. And a lot of that\u2019s a function of the investments we\u2019re making in AI.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n