Big Tech capex ranked: What Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft are spending as AI investment surges

For years, it was common for even the biggest tech companies to have annual capital expenditures, or capex, in the single- to low-double-digit-billion range.

You might have heard a tech company say it planned to spend $9 billion, $15 billion, or even $25 billion on research, development, and other costs in the upcoming fiscal year. 

But lately, capital expenditures at the largest tech companies have been off the charts, with some companies now regularly forecasting single-year capex in the hundreds of billions.

The driving factor for this is, of course, artificial intelligence (AI). Some of the biggest names in tech are throwing previously unthinkable sums behind AI development in an attempt to become the king of artificial intelligence down the road.

This week, investors received an update on capex from five major tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft—all of which reported their latest earnings.

Here’s what they said they expect to spend on capex during their current fiscal year.

Amazon: $200 billion

The leader in reported capital expenditures for 2026 is Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN). All the way back in February, the company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, confirmed that the e-commerce giant would spend around $200 billion in capex during the year.

He made the announcement on February 5, when the company reported its fourth quarter 2025 results.

At the time, Jassy said, “With such strong demand for our existing offerings and seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low Earth orbit satellites, we expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026, and anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.”

As of the company’s most recent Q1 2026 results, announced this week, that figure has not changed.

Microsoft: $190 billion

While Amazon’s $200 billion capex forecast is eye-watering, another major tech giant isn’t far behind.

Windows maker Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and as a result of that technology—and its related data center buildouts—the software and cloud services giant is expected to spend a fortune on capex in 2026.

As noted by The Register, Microsoft announced this week that it expects its capital expenditures for the year to hit around $190 billion. Its AI buildout is the driving factor. But during the company’s financial call earlier this week, chief financial officer Amy Hood said Microsoft will benefit from the spend in the long term.

“We remain confident in the return on these investments given higher demand signals and increasing product usage, as well as the efficiencies we’re already driving across the platform,” Hood noted.

Alphabet (Google): $180 billion to $190 billion

As for search giant Google, its parent company Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) this week said it was increasing its 2026 capex forecast from a previous range of $175 billion to $185 billion to a new range of $180 billion to $190 billion.

The high end of that new range would put it in line with Microsoft’s expected capex.

But as Fast Company previously reported, investors seem to be cheering Google’s massive capex spend lately, as the company is already seeing positive bottom-line results from its increased investment in the AI sector.

The company’s cloud division, which serves large enterprise customers who need cloud compute infrastructure for artificial intelligence tasks, saw a 63% increase in revenue for the quarter.

Meta: $125 billion to $145 billion

In recent years, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) has pivoted hard to AI, and its capital expenditures have surged as a result. Most recently, this week, Meta announced its 2026 capital expenditures will be even more than previously forecast.

As Fast Company reported earlier, Meta now expects its 2026 capex to rise from a range of between $115 billion to $135 billion to a new range of between $125 billion to $145 billion.

Yet unlike with Alphabet, investors have struck a more cautious tone with Meta’s increasing capex, particularly since Meta’s AI initiatives have yet to show as much of a positive bottom-line impact for the company as Alphabet’s already has.

Apple: around $13 billion

And then we get to Apple. When the AI race started back in 2022, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) was heavily criticized for being late to the game for several years afterward.

However, Apple’s more measured entrance into artificial intelligence—and its capital expenditures—now seems increasingly like the right move.

Still, that doesn’t mean a company the size of Apple doesn’t have a massive capital expenditure, and in fact it has confirmed that its AI-associated capex costs are increasing. However, it doesn’t appear that Apple’s full 2026 capex is anywhere close to that of the other companies on this list.

In its most recent earnings report yesterday, the company didn’t offer a full-year capex forecast. However, for its most recent quarter (Q2 2026), Apple had only about $4.3 billion in capital expenditures, notes GoTrade.

If that level stays steady, which is likely, then that would put Apple’s capex at only around $13 billion for the year.

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