"Big Tech invests $155B in AI this year, with hundreds of billions more planned"

Major Tech Firms Invest Heavily in AI Development

The largest corporations in the U.S. have poured $155 billion into artificial intelligence development this year, exceeding the federal government’s spending on education, training, employment, and social services combined in the 2025 fiscal year to date.

Recent financial reports from leading Silicon Valley firms indicate that spending is set to increase significantly within the next year. Over the past two weeks, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet—Google’s parent company—disclosed that their year-to-date capital expenditures already reach tens of billions.

Capital expenditure, or capex, reflects company investments in physical assets, such as data centers, which are critical for AI due to their demands for power, water, and advanced semiconductor chips. Alphabet noted in its latest earnings call that its spending largely went toward servers and data centers to support AI projects.

Meta reported spending $30.7 billion on capex so far this year, double its $15.2 billion outlay during the same period last year. In the most recent quarter alone, its expenditures reached $17 billion, compared to $8.5 billion in 2024. Alphabet’s capex for the first half of the fiscal year neared $40 billion, while Amazon’s totaled $55.7 billion. Microsoft expects to exceed $30 billion in capex this quarter to expand AI infrastructure. Its CFO, Amy Hood, stated that this quarter’s spending would be at least 50% higher than the previous year and surpass the company’s previous record of $24.2 billion in June.

"We remain committed to investing in the significant opportunities ahead," Hood said.

Spending by major tech firms is projected to grow substantially in the upcoming fiscal year. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to allocate around $100 billion toward AI next year. Meta expects to spend between $66 billion and $72 billion, while Alphabet raised its forecast from $75 billion to $85 billion. Amazon anticipates expenditures of $100 billion, with analysts estimating Amazon Web Services may reach $118 billion. Collectively, the four companies are expected to invest over $400 billion in capex next year.

These figures represent unprecedented investments, surpassing the European Union’s quarterly defense budget. Despite the scale of spending, investors continue to push for even greater allocations. Microsoft, Google, and Meta have reassured Wall Street that further investments are forthcoming.