Four hyperscalers project up to $725 billion in 2026 capex

The combined projected capital spending of the four hyperscalers is 77% above the previous year’s record of $410 billion.[4] Amazon kept its figure at $200 billion.[6] Meta raised its 2026 forecast to $125 billion-$145 billion, from $115 billion-$135 billion.[2] Alphabet raised its guidance by $5 billion, to as much as $190 billion for the year, while Microsoft forecast $190 billion for calendar 2026.[4] Together, those figures put the top end of the outlook at about $725 billion.[4][6][2]

Meta attributed its higher forecast primarily to increased component prices and, to a lesser extent, added data-center costs for future capacity.[2] The company also said its capital spending next year will increase significantly compared with 2026.[5] These disclosures make the spending outlook relevant to teams weighing infrastructure budgets: the stated reasons include both higher input costs and preparations for future capacity.[2] The figures alone do not specify how much additional computing capacity each dollar of investment will deliver.[5][2]

Microsoft said Azure and other cloud services revenue increased 40% year over year in its fiscal third quarter.[1] Meta’s first-quarter revenue rose 33% year over year to $56.31 billion.[2] Alphabet reported first-quarter revenue of $110 billion, up 22%, and net income of $62.6 billion, up 81%.[4] Amazon added $8.3 billion in cloud sales, bringing its quarterly total to $37.6 billion.[4] Recent revenue gains suggested the companies could shoulder high capital costs.[4]

Investors broadly welcomed the earnings reports, with AI and data-center demand supporting revenue and profit growth.[4] But the evidence also records divergent stock moves: one stock rose 6.4% in overnight trading, while another fell 8% in pre-market trading despite revenue growth of a third.[5][4] The cited reports do not identify which companies those two share-price moves refer to, so they should not be assigned to a specific name.[5][4] Separately, one company expects to remain capacity-constrained at least through 2026 despite additional investment and efforts to bring capacity online faster.[4]