Big Tech AI spending is set to surge in 2026, with Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft collectively signalling around $650 billion in capital expenditure focused on AI, cloud and data centres. The scale of those plans has rattled some investors and helped revive talk of AI bubble risks, even as executives and commentators argue the spending is aimed at long-term infrastructure and competitiveness.
In recent days, the size of Big Tech’s projected outlays has coincided with sharp market reactions in some names. The Financial Times reported that Amazon, Google and Microsoft were set to lose $900 billion in market capitalisation altogether, according to Silicon Republic.
A spending wave with AI at the center
Silicon Republic said the $650 billion package would represent a 60% rise from the $410 billion spent in 2025 and a 165% jump from the $245 billion spent the year before. It also described AI, cloud and data centres as the key high-cost items behind the spending plans.
A separate commentary from DIY Investor said major tech companies revealed plans to spend $660 billion this year on artificial intelligence, and that the sell-off was heavy after those plans were laid out. DIY Investor said the surge in capital expenditure is tied to spending on data centres and specialist chips, taking combined outlays well beyond last year’s $410 billion for the same group of companies.
Amazon’s $200bn capex signal
Amazon has drawn particular attention for the scale of its spending plan. Silicon Republic reported that Amazon shares fell 11% after an earnings call on 5 February when CEO Andy Jassy announced a $200 billion capital expenditure plan for the year, which the article said was more than 50% higher than last year.
In that same report, Jassy said 24% revenue growth in Amazon’s cloud offerings and 22% growth in advertising were evidence that heavy spending is paying off. Silicon Republic said Jassy described the year’s spending as focused on AI, chips, robotics and low-Earth orbit satellites.
DIY Investor also highlighted Amazon’s capex outlook, saying the company “has gone furthest” by warning capex will hit $200 billion this year alone. It added that this figure was $50 billion more than markets expected, and said it eclipsed already large commitments from Google and Microsoft.
Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta in focus
Microsoft disclosed a $37.5 billion quarterly capital expenditure figure on 28 January, Silicon Republic reported, adding that it was slightly above analyst estimates. The same report said Microsoft dropped 18% for a period after the announcement.
Silicon Republic said Microsoft also disclosed “the true nature” of its close economic relationship with OpenAI for the first time. It reported that roughly 45% of Microsoft’s $625 billion expected in future cloud contracts was from the start-up, and said this contributed to investor wariness about reliance on a single customer.
For Google parent Alphabet, Silicon Republic reported the shares initially fell 4% after earnings on Wednesday, 4 February, before recovering to sit just below 0.5% since “yesterday.” The article said Alphabet’s Q4 sales rose 18% and earnings per share rose 31%, while its cloud backlog grew 55% quarter-over-quarter to $240 billion.
Silicon Republic also reported Alphabet announced capex for the year between $175 billion and $185 billion to meet customer demand and expand AI offerings. It added that Gemini Enterprise is selling 8 million seats and that the Gemini app has more than 750 million monthly active users, which the report said helped keep investors “relatively content.”
For Meta, Silicon Republic said the company announced total expenses for 2026 in the range of $115 billion to $135 billion, driven by increased investment to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts as well as its core business. It also reported the stock rose 10% after the earnings announcement but lost those gains as investor fear pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 4% over the week.
Bubble fears and the pushback
An opinion item published by Moneycontrol was titled “Big Tech’s ‘breathtaking’ $660bn spending spree reignites AI bubble fears,” signalling that bubble worries are part of the current debate around the spending surge. The same Moneycontrol page showed the item was posted on Feb. 13, 2026, at 02:09 PM IST.
DIY Investor attributed a counter-argument to deVere Group CEO Nigel Green, who said that while concerns are understandable, fears among AI investors could be “short-sighted.” Green argued that the spending is building a “foundational layer” that underpins what the companies do now and will do in the future, rather than money tied to a single product that must quickly justify itself.
He also said much of the spending is concentrated upfront but goes into long-lived infrastructure, with the accounting impact spread over many years even if the cash is committed immediately. Green added that AI can generate returns through stronger retention, pricing leverage and lower churn across existing platforms, and that volatility reflects uncertainty about timing rather than a collapse in the underlying logic.
