AI Arms Race Fuels Massive CapEx Surge

The world’s largest technology companies — Meta (META), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Apple (AAPL) — are spending billions of dollars to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure. Several have even raised their CapEx outlook for 2025 and 2026, underscoring intensifying competition to lead the next wave of AI innovation.

Meta: Aggressive Spending and $30 Billion Bond Offering

Meta Platforms (META) raised its full-year 2025 total expense forecast to between $116B and $118B, up from its prior outlook of $114B–$118B — representing 22% to 24% year-over-year growth.
The company also lifted its 2025 capital expenditure guidance to $70B–$72B, citing increased infrastructure investment and AI expansion needs.

CFO Susan Li emphasized that AI infrastructure remains central to Meta’s long-term strategy:

“Our progress on AI models and products will position us to capitalize on new revenue opportunities... A central requirement to realizing these opportunities is infrastructure capacity.”

Meta expects CapEx growth to accelerate even further in 2026, projecting “notably larger” spending as it scales both internal infrastructure and third-party cloud partnerships.
To support these investments, Meta plans to raise up to $30B through bond offerings — one of the largest tech debt issuances of the year.

Alphabet: Higher CapEx Outlook for 2025–2026

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) boosted its CapEx forecast for 2025 and 2026, reflecting growing demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure.

“We now expect CapEx to be in the range of $91B to $93B in 2025, up from our previous estimate of $85B,” said CFO Anat Ashkenazi during the Q3 earnings call.

The company recorded nearly $24B in Q3 CapEx, exceeding prior expectations, and warned that 2026 spending will rise significantly.
Ashkenazi noted that elevated infrastructure investment will continue to pressure profitability through higher depreciation and energy costs tied to massive data center operations.

Microsoft: Expanding GPU and CPU Investments

Microsoft (MSFT) also signaled rising CapEx in fiscal 2026 amid accelerating demand for AI and cloud services.

CFO Amy Hood reported $34.9B in capital expenditures during the most recent quarter, split between:

Short-lived assets (GPUs, CPUs) to expand Azure AI capacity and refresh hardware, and
Long-lived assets such as data center leases totaling $11.1B.

“With accelerating demand and a growing RPO balance, we’re increasing our spend on GPUs and CPUs. Therefore, total spend will increase sequentially, and we now expect the FY '26 growth rate to be higher than FY '25,” Hood stated.

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in AI research, infrastructure, and global cloud expansion to meet enterprise demand.

Amazon: AWS and AI Investments Lead Spending

Amazon (AMZN) reported $34.2B in cash CapEx during Q3 and $89.9B year-to-date, with the majority allocated toward AWS and AI infrastructure.

CFO Brian Olsavsky said Amazon will continue to make “significant investments” in data centers, custom silicon (like Trainium), and supporting technology for global operations:

“We believe AI represents a massive opportunity with strong returns on invested capital over the long term.”

The company expects CapEx to reach around $125B in 2025 and rise further in 2026, emphasizing AWS’s central role in the AI era.

Apple: Quiet but Growing AI Infrastructure Spending

While Apple (AAPL) did not disclose exact CapEx figures, CFO Kevan Parekh confirmed that AI-related spending is increasing, primarily through the buildout of Private Cloud Compute (PCC) infrastructure.

“We are expecting increases in our CapEx spending related to AI investments... We continue to leverage both first-party and third-party capacity under our hybrid model,” Parekh said.

Apple’s growing focus on hybrid AI infrastructure highlights its push to support on-device AI processing and secure cloud compute for its upcoming AI features.

Key Takeaways

Big Tech CapEx Boom: Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple all increasing AI-related capital expenditure.
Meta: 2025 CapEx $70B–$72B; plans $30B bond sale.
Alphabet: Raises 2025 CapEx forecast to $91B–$93B; more increases expected in 2026.
Microsoft: Q1 CapEx $34.9B; FY26 growth to exceed FY25.
Amazon: $34.2B in Q3 CapEx; $89.9B YTD; continued AI and AWS expansion.
Apple: Increasing AI spending through Private Cloud Compute buildout.
Overall theme: AI infrastructure is now the primary investment frontier across Big Tech.