The world's leading technology firms are ramping up their capital expenditures in the race for dominance in artificial intelligence. According to forecasts, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are set to spend over $344 billion by 2025, primarily on building data centers for AI, reports Japan Times.
Microsoft, which spent a record $24.2 billion last quarter, plans to increase its capital expenditures to $30 billion, linking this to the expansion of cloud services and AI infrastructure. The company has already recorded a 39% growth in Azure sales, surpassing analysts' expectations. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that Microsoft is "leading the AI infrastructure wave." Notably, the company recently joined the "$4 trillion club," surpassing Apple alongside NVIDIA.
Amazon spent $31.4 billion last quarter — nearly double what it spent a year ago. However, investors were disappointed, as the cloud division showed weak growth, leading to an 8.1% drop in the company’s stock. Analysts forecast that the margin for Amazon Web Services will remain under pressure at least until 2026.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, raised its capital expenditure forecast by $10 billion — to $85 billion, with plans for even greater investments in 2026. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted that these investments are necessary to meet the growing demand for cloud services.
Meta Platforms has increased the lower end of its 2025 expenditure forecast and plans to accelerate its investments. The company is constructing large data centers and attracting top AI researchers. Recently, it established the Superintelligence division to advance human-level AI. Strong advertising sales and an optimistic revenue forecast allowed Meta's stock to rise by more than 8%, indicating that its AI expenses are starting to pay off.
In contrast, Apple appears modest: its capital expenditures for the nine months ending June 28 reached $9.47 billion, a 45% increase from the previous year, a significant portion of which is also directed towards AI. CFO Kevan Parekh anticipates "substantial, but not exponential growth" in future expenditures.
Analysts note that the current strategy for Big Tech is a competition for the AI market. As noted by a Forrester expert, companies like Google are compelled to spend vast amounts to keep pace with OpenAI and other competitors.
