Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon Raise AI Capex Guidance Past $700 Billion Combined

Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon all used this week's earnings calls to raise their AI infrastructure spending guidance, confirming that the industry's capex race is still accelerating.

Key Points:

• Microsoft: Guided to roughly $175 billion in capital expenditures for fiscal year 2027; Q1 FY27 capex was $39.4 billion alone

• Alphabet: Expects 2027 capex to top $300 billion; Google Cloud revenue up 103% year over year to $30.7 billion in Q3

• Amazon: Guiding to roughly $220 billion in 2026 capital spending; AWS revenue up 39% to $46 billion — its fastest growth rate in nearly five years

• Combined spending commitments now stretch toward $700 billion-plus across the three companies

• Meta separately disclosed a $95 billion financing plan using forward stock sales and preferred equity rather than cash reserves

• CoreWeave, a major AI infrastructure lender, shows elevated credit-default-swap spreads, indicating investor concern about debt-financed AI buildouts

Why It Matters: The AI buildout is now large enough that it's being financed with increasingly creative and leveraged structures. Markets are starting to price in real doubt about whether all of it pays off.