If there’s any lesson to take from the spending plans issued by the world’s largest technology companies over the past two weeks, it’s to never underestimate the fear of missing out.
Microsoft, which set a $24.2 billion capital spending record last quarter, plans to drop upward of $30 billion in the current period. Amazon.com similarly spent $31.4 billion last quarter, almost double what it dropped a year ago, and is maintaining that level of investment. Google owner Alphabet raised its capital expenditures guidance this year to $85 billion.
Then there’s Meta Platforms: The social networking giant lifted the low end of its forecast for 2025 capital expenditures and projected that costs will continue to grow at an even faster pace next year. Altogether, the four companies are expected to spend more than $344 billion for the year, with much of it going to the data centers necessary to run AI models.
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