Big Tech AI Spending Tracker
Every dollar the seven biggest tech companies pour into AI — data center capex, acquisitions, minority investments, compute contracts, and talent — from 2020 through 2026 guidance. The big four hyperscalers alone guide to roughly $730 billion of 2026 capex ($720–740B as of October 29, 2026), up 78% from ~$410B in 2025.
The four largest hyperscalers plan to spend roughly $730 billion of capital expenditure in 2026, most of it AI infrastructure — up about 78% from ~$410B in 2025.
Updated Nov 4, 2026, with all four Q3 2026 reports (guidance as of October 29): Amazon reaffirmed ~$220B of 2026 cash capex in its October 29 release; Alphabet held $195–205B on October 28, per Reuters, after Q3 capex of $51.4B; Microsoft CFO Amy Hood put calendar-2026 spend at about $170B, down from ~$175B, because third-party capacity deliveries slipped (FY27 Q1 call); Meta narrowed to $135–145B (from $130–145B) after Q3 capex of $34.91B (October 21 release). These are total capex figures, most of it AI infrastructure. Full breakdown in the full AI capex breakdown.
2026 AI Capex Guidance by Company
Company-guided capital expenditure for calendar 2026, as of October 29, 2026 (Q3 2026 earnings for all four). Amazon leads at ~$220B; Microsoft's ~$170B (calendar 2026, including finance leases) was trimmed from ~$175B on October 28 because third-party capacity deliveries slipped.
2026 capex guidance ranges ($B)
Four companies now out-spend most national infrastructure budgets
Source: Q3 2026 earnings releases and calls, Oct 21–29, 2026; each company's source is linked in the table below.
| Company | 2025 capex | 2026 guidance | Change | Primary focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon (AWS) | ~$128B | ~$220B | +72% | AWS data centers, Trainium chips, Bedrock |
| Microsoft (Azure) | ~$118B | ~$170B | +44% | OpenAI infrastructure, MAIA chips, Copilot scale |
| Alphabet (Google) | ~$91B | $195–205B | +120% | TPU v7, Gemini training, Google Cloud AI |
| Meta | ~$72B | $135–145B | +94% | Llama training, superintelligence labs |
| Combined big four | ~$410B | ~$730B | +78% | AI data centers, GPUs, custom silicon, power |
| Company | 2026 capex (est.) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | ~$220B | Amazon Q3 2026 release (Oct 29, 2026): continues to expect ~$220B of 2026 cash capex |
| $195–205B | Alphabet held $195–205B at Q3 2026 earnings (Oct 28, 2026), per Reuters | |
| Microsoft | ~$170B | Microsoft calendar-2026 capex incl. finance leases, ~$170B (FY27 Q1 call, Oct 28, 2026; was ~$175B), lowered on delayed third-party capacity |
| Meta | $135–145B | Meta Q3 2026 release (Oct 21, 2026): $135–145B incl. finance-lease principal, narrowed from $130–145B; Q3 capex $34.91B |
| Apple | $15–25B | Estimated AI data center buildout (not company guidance) |
| Tesla | $12–16B | Colossus/xAI growth trajectory (est.) |
| NVIDIA | $4–6B | Fabless model; R&D-focused |
Tracked AI Spend by Company, 2020–2025
Broader than capex guidance alone: infrastructure capex attributable to AI plus AI acquisitions, minority investments, structured deals, and talent raids. Total tracked spend grew from ~$30B in 2020 to $381B in 2025 — a 12x ramp in five years.
Annual tracked AI spend, stacked by company ($B)
2025 alone (~$381B) exceeds 2020–2023 combined
Source: company filings, earnings calls, and reported deal values.
| Year | Amazon | Meta | Microsoft | Tesla | NVIDIA | Apple | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $5B | $7.7B | $5B | $2B | $0.8B | $8.4B | $1.3B | $30.2B |
| 2021 | $6.2B | $8B | $5B | $24.7B | $1.8B | $2.5B | $1.5B | $49.7B |
| 2022 | $15.2B | $10.5B | $10B | $5B | $1.7B | $5.3B | $1.9B | $49.6B |
| 2023 | $18.1B | $19.8B | $14B | $21.2B | $2.2B | $5.6B | $2.5B | $83.4B |
| 2024 | $39.5B | $54.4B | $27.5B | $30.4B | $3.5B | $10.2B | $5.2B | $170.6B |
| 2025 | $106.3B | $105B | $79.6B | $66B | $4.8B | $11.3B | $8B | $381.1B |
Cumulative AI Spend and Strategy, 2020–2025
$764B tracked across seven companies in six years. Amazon and Google lead on totals; every company runs a distinctly different playbook.
Cumulative tracked AI spend, 2020–2025 ($B)
Amazon edges Google for the biggest six-year AI bill
| Company | 2020–2025 total | 2025 spend | 5-yr CAGR | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $205B | $105B | 69% | Cloud + Model Partnerships |
| $190B | $106.4B | 84% | Full Stack / Vertical Integration | |
| Microsoft | $149B | $66B | 101% | Partnership-First |
| Meta | $141B | $79.6B | 74% | Open Source + Infrastructure |
| NVIDIA | $43B | $11.3B | 6% | Picks & Shovels |
| Apple | $20B | $8B | 45% | On-Device / Stealth |
| Tesla | $15B | $4.8B | 43% | Specialized / Autonomous AI |
Where the Money Goes
Infrastructure — data centers, GPUs, custom silicon — dominates every year, but 2025 saw a surge in external deals: Google's $32B Wiz acquisition, Meta's $41B in Nebius and CoreWeave compute contracts, and Amazon's $50B cumulative OpenAI position.
Tracked AI spend by category ($B, stacked)
Infrastructure is ~80% of every dollar; M&A spiked in 2025
| Year | Infrastructure | M&A | Investments | Structured deals | Talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $20.8B | $9.3B | $0B | $0B | $0B |
| 2021 | $28B | $19.7B | $2B | $0B | $0B |
| 2022 | $42.5B | $6.8B | $0.3B | $0B | $0B |
| 2023 | $69.9B | $0.2B | $13.3B | $0B | $0B |
| 2024 | $156.8B | $1.0B | $9.5B | $3.4B | $0B |
| 2025 | $308.4B | $53.9B | $16.3B | $1B | $1.5B |
The 15 Biggest AI Deals, 2020–2025
Acquisitions, cumulative minority stakes, and multi-year compute contracts of $1B or more. Follow the two biggest recipients on our OpenAI news hub and Anthropic news hub. To see who is capturing the spend, our AI Revenue Wars dashboard reads 1,415 numbers from the SEC filings of 94 companies and segments.
| # | Deal | Buyer | Year | Value | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI (cumulative stake) | Amazon | 2025 | $50B | Minority Investment |
| 2 | Wiz | 2025 | $32B | Acquisition | |
| 3 | Nebius 5-yr compute | Meta | 2025 | $27B | Infrastructure Contract |
| 4 | Nuance Communications | Microsoft | 2021 | $19.7B | Acquisition |
| 5 | Scale AI (49% stake) | Meta | 2025 | $14.3B | Acquisition |
| 6 | CoreWeave 6-yr compute | Meta | 2025 | $14.2B | Infrastructure Contract |
| 7 | OpenAI (cumulative stake) | Microsoft | 2023 | $13.8B | Minority Investment |
| 8 | Anthropic (cumulative stake) | Amazon | 2024 | $8B | Minority Investment |
| 9 | Mellanox Technologies | NVIDIA | 2020 | $6.9B | Acquisition |
| 10 | Mandiant | 2022 | $5.4B | Acquisition | |
| 11 | Intersect Power | 2025 | $4.8B | Acquisition | |
| 12 | Anthropic (cumulative stake) | 2025 | $3.3B | Minority Investment | |
| 13 | Manus AI | Meta | 2025 | $2.8B | Acquisition |
| 14 | Character.AI license | 2024 | $2.7B | Structured Deal | |
| 15 | G42 minority stake | Microsoft | 2024 | $1.5B | Minority Investment |
The $500B Stargate Project
Announced in early 2025, Stargate is a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to build a $500B AI data center network across the United States — on top of the hyperscaler budgets tracked above. SoftBank provides the majority of financing, Oracle supplies cloud infrastructure, and OpenAI is the primary compute consumer, with initial campuses in Texas. It is the single largest private infrastructure investment in AI history, deploying capital over 4–5 years. Track every announced US site, megawatt, and construction project on our AI Infrastructure Buildout Tracker.
AI Spending — Common Questions
How much are tech companies spending on AI in 2026?
The four largest hyperscalers — Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Meta, and Microsoft — guide to $720–740B of total capital expenditure in 2026, roughly $730B at the midpoint and up about 78% from ~$410B in 2025. That is total capex, not AI-only, though most of it goes to AI data centers, Nvidia GPUs, custom silicon, and power. As of October 29, 2026, after all four reported Q3 2026 results, Amazon leads at ~$220B (reaffirmed), followed by Alphabet ($195–205B, held), Microsoft (~$170B for calendar 2026 including finance leases, trimmed from ~$175B because third-party capacity deliveries slipped), and Meta ($135–145B, narrowed from $130–145B on October 21).
Which company is spending the most on AI?
Amazon is the single largest AI infrastructure spender in 2026, with 2026 capex guided to about $220B, much of it for AWS data centers, Trainium chips, and Bedrock. Alphabet (Google) follows at $195–205B, then Microsoft at ~$170B (calendar 2026, per CFO Amy Hood on October 28) and Meta at $135–145B.
Who benefits most from big tech AI spending?
Nvidia remains the primary beneficiary — its H200, B200, and GB200 GPUs power most AI training and inference at every major hyperscaler, capturing roughly 40% of hyperscaler capex. Other winners include TSMC (fabrication), Arista (networking), Vertiv and Eaton (power/cooling), and AI clouds like CoreWeave and Nebius — Meta alone signed $41B in compute contracts with the two of them.
How much have big tech companies spent on AI since 2020?
Our tracker counts roughly $764B in AI spending by Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, NVIDIA, and Apple from 2020 through 2025 — infrastructure capex plus AI acquisitions, minority investments, structured deals, and talent. Adding 2026 guidance (~$730B from the big four alone) pushes the cumulative total past $1.5 trillion. The $500B Stargate project (OpenAI/SoftBank/Oracle) adds further capacity on top of hyperscaler budgets.
Is big tech AI spending sustainable?
By mid-2026 the consensus has shifted toward AI capex being a permanent feature of big tech cost structures rather than a cycle. Bulls cite concrete returns in Q3 2026 — Microsoft Azure up 48%, Google Cloud up 103% to $30.7B, AWS up 39% to $46.0B. Bears note that ~$730B in a single year still outpaces demonstrable AI revenue, GPU depreciation assumptions are under scrutiny, and the arms race shows no signs of slowing.
How much is AI infrastructure spending in 2026?
Total AI capex by the four main hyperscalers reaches approximately $730B in 2026 ($720–740B as guided on Q3 2026 earnings calls) — Amazon ~$220B, Google $195–205B, Microsoft ~$170B, Meta $135–145B — up 78% from ~$410B in 2025. Including the $500B Stargate project (OpenAI/SoftBank/Oracle), Oracle's own buildout, and other AI-focused companies, total sector AI infrastructure investment in 2026 exceeds $1 trillion.
What is Amazon spending on AI in 2026?
Amazon is projecting approximately $220B in cash capital expenditure for 2026, raised from $200B on its July 30, 2026 earnings call and reaffirmed with Q3 results on October 29, the largest of any single hyperscaler. The majority goes to AWS data centers, Trainium and Inferentia custom chips, and Bedrock AI services infrastructure — on top of its cumulative $50B+ position in OpenAI and $8B in Anthropic.
Methodology
"2026 capex guidance" figures are company-guided total capital expenditures (the overwhelming majority now AI-driven), from each company's Q3 2026 earnings release or call (October 21–29, 2026). "Tracked AI spend 2020–2025" is our estimate of AI-attributable infrastructure capex plus disclosed AI acquisitions, cumulative minority investments, structured deals, and talent packages — so 2025 tracked spend (~$381B across seven companies) is not directly comparable to the ~$410B big-four total-capex figure. Estimates carry uncertainty ranges; sources include company filings, earnings transcripts, and reported deal values. Updated .