United States · Business news · AI & Tech · 30 Apr 2026
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Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft reported quarterly results within minutes of each other, and estimates of their combined 2026 capital spending rose to as much as $725 billion. Meta lifted its capex plan to as much as $145 billion and its shares fell more than 6%. Alphabet reported $20 billion of cloud revenue against an $18.4 billion forecast and a backlog above $460 billion, and its shares gained 6.6% in late trading. Amazon's cloud unit grew 28% and Microsoft guided to about 40% Azure growth.
Hyperscaler capex is revenue for chip designers, memory makers, server and networking vendors, and for the utilities, power-equipment makers and contractors building data-centre capacity. The same spending weighs on the spenders' free cash flow, which is why investors rewarded Alphabet's visible cloud payoff and sold Meta after it raised its budget.
Reported by GuruFocus (via Yahoo Finance) — “AI Spending Hits $725 Billion As Alphabet Outshines Meta” ↗ on 30 Apr 2026.
Official series on 30 Apr 2026 or the last day before it, and the latest observation.
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