AI Capex Statistics 2026: Hyperscaler Spending by Company

Amazon expects to spend approximately $220 billion in cash capital expenditures (capex) in 2026, up from its prior estimate of about $200 billion. Alphabet updated its full-year 2026 capex guidance to $195 to $205 billion, up from $180 to $190 billion, and Meta narrowed its 2026 range to $130 to $145 billion, including principal payments on finance leases. Each AI capex figure below is the company’s own, dated to the release or call that gave it.

Microsoft adjusted its calendar year 2026 expectation to approximately $175 billion after a shift from finance leases to operating leases. Together, the four companies’ current 2026 guides add up to about $720 billion at the low end and about $745 billion at the high end. The spending buys servers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and data centers, and each company defines capex its own way.

Key Takeaways

• Before the latest revisions, the same four 2026 guides summed to about $695 billion at the low end and about $725 billion at the high end.
• Since January 2026, Meta has lifted the low end of its 2026 outlook from $115 billion to $130 billion, by way of $125 billion in April 2026, and the high end from $135 billion to $145 billion.
• Microsoft said roughly two-thirds of its $41 billion of fiscal fourth-quarter capex was for short-lived assets, primarily CPUs and GPUs.
• Approximately 60% of Alphabet’s second-quarter investment in technical infrastructure was in servers, and 40% was in data centers and networking equipment.
• Microsoft’s April 2026 estimate of roughly $190 billion for calendar year 2026 included approximately $25 billion from the impact of higher component pricing.
• Oracle’s capital expenditures totaled $55,663 million ($55.7 billion) in fiscal 2026, about 11% above its $50 billion guidance.

Editor’s Choice

• Amazon 2026 cash capex plan: approximately $220 billion, up from about $200 billion.
• Alphabet 2026 capex guidance: $195 to $205 billion.
• Microsoft capex across four fiscal 2026 quarters: $145.3 billion.
• Meta second-quarter 2026 capex: $31.08 billion, including principal payments on finance leases.
• Oracle first-quarter fiscal 2027 capex: $28,499 million.
• Microsoft capex outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2027: over $50 billion, including the lease reclassification impact.

2026 AI Capex Guidance by Company

• Alphabet’s increase in its 2026 range is primarily due to an acceleration in the delivery of capacity to meet growing demand, the company said.
• Amazon said the higher cost of memory pushed its 2026 cash capex estimate up from about $200 billion to approximately $220 billion.
• Meta’s 2026 outlook of $130 to $145 billion was narrowed from its prior outlook of $125 to $145 billion.
• Microsoft said its calendar year 2026 investment expectations remain unchanged outside the useful-life impact.
• Oracle guided fiscal 2026 capital expenditures of $50 billion, unchanged from its previous guidance. Oracle’s prior fiscal year ended on May 31, 2025, so its figures cover a different period and stay out of the calendar-year sum.
• The four calendar-year guides from Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft add up to about $720 billion at the low end, against about $695 billion before the latest revisions.

Source: Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle company disclosures, 2026

About This Data

• Compiled from 14 sources: 5 earnings releases filed with the SEC, 3 Meta investor relations releases, 4 Microsoft earnings call transcripts published by Microsoft, and published transcripts of Alphabet’s and Amazon’s second-quarter 2026 calls.
• Sources date from October 2025 (Microsoft’s fiscal first-quarter call) to September 2026 (Oracle’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 release).
• Only company filings, company releases, and the companies’ own earnings calls qualified; secondary estimates of combined spending were excluded.
• Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when the companies publish new results.

What are hyperscalers spending on AI capex in 2026?

Amazon expects approximately $220 billion in cash capex in 2026, Alphabet $195 to $205 billion, Meta $130 to $145 billion, and Microsoft approximately $175 billion for calendar year 2026. Combined, the four guides reach about $745 billion at the high end, measured on each company’s own definition of capex.

Microsoft Capex by Quarter

• Microsoft’s capital expenditures were $41 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (FY26), including the impact from higher component pricing.
• In the fiscal first quarter, capital expenditures were driven by growing demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI offerings.
• Third-quarter capex of $31.9 billion was down sequentially due to the normal variability from cloud infrastructure buildouts and the timing of delivery of finance leases.
• Total finance leases were $4.7 billion in the third quarter, primarily for large data center sites.
• The four FY26 quarters add up to $145.3 billion.

What is Microsoft spending on capex?

Microsoft reported capital expenditures of $41 billion for its FY26 fourth quarter. It expects capex of over $50 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, including the lease reclassification impact from the useful life update. For calendar year 2026, the shift from finance to operating leases adjusts its expectation to approximately $175 billion.

Recent Developments

• September 10, 2026: Oracle reported capital expenditures of $28,499 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
• July 30, 2026: Amazon reported purchases of property and equipment of $54,208 million for its second quarter ended June 30, 2026.
• July 29, 2026: Microsoft said it is extending the estimated useful lives of its data centers and office buildings from 15 to 25 years, effective at the start of fiscal 2027.
• July 29, 2026: Meta narrowed its 2026 capital expenditures outlook to $130 to $145 billion.
• July 22, 2026: Alphabet reported purchases of property and equipment of $44,924 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.

Microsoft 2026 Capex Guidance and the Lease Accounting Change

• In April 2026, Microsoft expected to invest roughly $190 billion in capital expenditures in calendar year 2026, including approximately $25 billion from the impact of higher component pricing.
• The useful-life change affects only the timing of future depreciation and is expected to have a minimal benefit to FY27 operating income, Microsoft said.
• The greater impact is on capital expenditures, as more of Microsoft’s future data center leases will shift from finance leases to operating leases.
• Finance leases are included in Microsoft’s capital expenditures while operating leases are not.
• Microsoft’s expectation from July 2026 is about $15 billion below its April 2026 estimate, with both figures stated as approximate.

Source: Microsoft CFO remarks, April and July 2026

Why did Microsoft lower its capex guidance?

Microsoft said its calendar year 2026 investment expectations remain unchanged outside the useful-life impact. Longer useful lives shift more future data center leases from finance leases, which are counted in capital expenditures, to operating leases, which are not, adjusting the expectation to approximately $175 billion.

Alphabet Capex and 2026 Guidance

• Alphabet’s capex was $44.9 billion in the second quarter, with the vast majority of the spend in technical infrastructure to support its investments in AI.
• Approximately 60% of that technical infrastructure investment went to servers and 40% to data centers and networking equipment.
• Purchases of property and equipment rose from $23,953 million ($24.0 billion) in the third quarter of 2025 to $44,924 million ($44.9 billion) in the second quarter of 2026, and reached $132,402 million ($132.4 billion) over the trailing twelve months.
• Alphabet had negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion in the second quarter, driven by its investments in capex.
• The company raised its 2026 range primarily because of an acceleration in the delivery of capacity to meet growing demand.

Amazon Capex and 2026 Cash Capex Plan

• Amazon now believes it will spend approximately $220 billion in cash capex in 2026.
• Even at that amount, Amazon said it will still not have enough computing capacity to meet all the demand it has in 2026.
• Purchases of property and equipment were $54,208 million ($54.2 billion) in the three months ended June 30, 2026, against $32,183 million ($32.2 billion) a year earlier.
• Twelve-month purchases rose about 61%, to $173,028 million ($173.0 billion).
• Free cash flow decreased to an outflow of $7.6 billion for the trailing twelve months.

Meta Capex by Quarter

• Meta’s capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $31.08 billion in the second quarter of 2026.
• Full-year 2025 capital expenditures on the same basis were $72.22 billion.
• First-half 2026 capex totaled $50.92 billion.
• Second-quarter capex was about 57% higher than first-quarter capex.

By the numbers: Meta spent $31.08 billion on capex, including principal payments on finance leases, in the second quarter of 2026. Its first-half total covers about 39% of the $130 billion low end of its 2026 outlook, leaving about 61% of that low end for the second half.

Meta 2026 Capex Outlook Revisions

• Meta’s current 2026 outlook is $130 to $145 billion, narrowed from $125 to $145 billion, according to its second-quarter 2026 results release.
• Meta’s January 2026 outlook tied year-over-year growth to increased investment to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business.
• Meta’s April 2026 raise reflected expectations for higher component pricing and, to a lesser extent, additional data center costs to support future year capacity.
• The low end of the range is $15 billion higher than in January 2026, and the high end is $10 billion higher.
• The low end of the outlook is about 80% above Meta’s 2025 capex, and the high end about 101% above it.

How much will Meta spend on capex in 2026?

Meta anticipates 2026 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, of $130 to $145 billion. It spent $50.92 billion in the first half of the year, leaving about $79.08 billion to reach the low end of that range in the second half.

Oracle Capex vs Guidance

• Oracle’s capital expenditures were $55,663 million ($55.7 billion) in fiscal 2026, about 11% more than it had guided.
• Fiscal 2026 capex was about 162% higher than in the prior fiscal year.
• First-quarter fiscal 2027 capex was $28,499 million ($28.5 billion), about 51% of the fiscal 2026 total in a single quarter.
• Oracle raised $43 billion in debt financing and $5 billion in equity financing in fiscal 2026.

Worth noting: Oracle guided fiscal 2026 capital expenditures of $50 billion, unchanged from its previous guidance, and reported $55,663 million ($55.7 billion). Its prior fiscal year ended on May 31, 2025. Oracle’s fiscal figures therefore cover a different period than the calendar-year guides from Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, and are not added to them.

How Much Big Tech Capex Goes to AI Servers and Chips

• Microsoft said roughly two-thirds of its fiscal fourth-quarter capex was for short-lived assets, primarily CPUs and GPUs, as customers increasingly build solutions that use both AI and non-AI infrastructure.
• In its fiscal first quarter, roughly half of Microsoft’s spend was on short-lived assets, primarily GPUs and CPUs.
• The short-lived share was roughly two-thirds in Microsoft’s fiscal second and third quarters.
• Alphabet said approximately 60% of its second-quarter investment in technical infrastructure was in servers.
• Amazon said its year-over-year increase of $66.1 billion in purchases of property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales and incentives, primarily reflects investments in artificial intelligence. Gross twelve-month purchases rose $65.4 billion, from $107.7 billion to $173.0 billion, so the two increases differ because the net figure also counts those proceeds and incentives.
• The companies describe their AI hardware share in different terms, so the shares cannot be averaged or summed.

Source: Microsoft and Amazon disclosures, 2025 and 2026

How much of Big Tech capex goes to AI?

Microsoft said roughly two-thirds of its fiscal fourth-quarter capex went to short-lived assets, primarily CPUs and GPUs. Alphabet put the vast majority of its second-quarter capex in technical infrastructure to support AI, with approximately 60% of that investment in servers. Neither company gives one AI share of total capex.

Component and Memory Pricing in 2026 Capex Guidance

• Microsoft’s roughly $190 billion calendar 2026 estimate from April included approximately $25 billion from the impact of higher component pricing.
• That pricing effect is about 13% of the estimate.
• Microsoft’s $41 billion of fiscal fourth-quarter capex included the impact from higher component pricing.
• Meta’s April 2026 raise reflected its expectations for higher component pricing this year.
• Amazon said the higher cost of memory pushed its 2026 cash capex number up from its prior estimate.
• Amazon’s raise is about $20 billion.

Source: Microsoft, Meta and Amazon guidance remarks, 2026

Key finding: Microsoft attributed approximately $25 billion of its roughly $190 billion calendar 2026 capex estimate to higher component pricing. Amazon cited the higher cost of memory for its raise to approximately $220 billion. Part of the 2026 increase therefore reflects what the same hardware costs, and not only how much of it the companies buy.

How Big Tech Defines Capital Expenditures

• Meta reports capital expenditures including principal payments on finance leases.
• Microsoft’s $41 billion fiscal fourth-quarter figure included $5.6 billion of finance leases, while cash paid for property, plant and equipment (PP&E) was $35.8 billion.
• Finance leases made up about 14% of that quarter’s capex.
• Amazon gives its 2026 plan as cash capex, and it describes its year-over-year increase in purchases of property and equipment net of proceeds from sales and incentives.
• Alphabet subtracts purchases of property and equipment from operating cash flow to reach free cash flow.
• Because the bases differ, any sum across companies is approximate.

Source: Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Oracle financial statements and earnings calls, 2026

Big Tech Capex Plans for 2027

• Alphabet said it continues to expect its capex to increase significantly in 2027.
• Amazon said it believes its capacity shortfall against demand will also be true in 2027, and each site built to close it adds to data center electricity use.
• Microsoft expects capex of over $50 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
• Oracle expects to raise approximately $40 billion through a combination of debt and equity financing in fiscal 2027, including its previously announced $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance.
• Oracle does not expect to issue additional debt in calendar year 2026.

Will AI capex increase in 2027?

Alphabet expects its capex to increase significantly in 2027, and Amazon expects its capacity to fall short of demand in 2027 as well. Microsoft’s outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 is over $50 billion. None of these statements is a full-year dollar figure.

Conclusion

Amazon now expects to spend approximately $220 billion in cash capex in 2026, and the four calendar-year guides from Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft add up to about $720 billion to $745 billion. Every one of those guides moved during the year, and component and memory prices now account for part of the increase. The next quarterly results will show whether actual spending keeps pace with these ranges, read on each company’s own definition of capex.