Overview
- Amazon set 2026 capital expenditures at about $200 billion, with the bulk directed to AWS data centers, custom chips, robotics and satellites, sending its shares down more than 10% after hours.
- Alphabet lifted its 2026 capex target to $175–$185 billion, a sharp step-up from roughly $91 billion in 2025, to expand compute and data-center capacity for AI services.
- Across Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, planned 2026 outlays for AI infrastructure total roughly $650 billion based on companies’ stated ranges.
- Markets swung sharply as roughly a trillion dollars of Big Tech market value evaporated, while chip suppliers such as Nvidia and Broadcom rose on expectations of stronger demand.
- Executives cite compute capacity as the key bottleneck, pointing to constraints in energy, available space and components, even as strong ad and cloud revenues help finance the spending.