For the past two years, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta have repeatedly set records for how much they are spending on artificial intelligence. On Wednesday, the four giants did it again.
In the first three months of the year, the four companies reported in their financial results, they plowed a total of $130. 65 billion into capital expenditures, largely spending on data centers that power A. I.
That figure — which was another record — was more than three times what the Manhattan Project cost to develop nuclear bombs and 71 percent higher than what the tech giants spent in the same quarter a year earlier.
All of the companies said they would be spending even more, totaling roughly $700 billion this year. Meta, for one, raised its spending forecast for 2026 to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from its previous prediction of $115 billion to $135 billion.
Google also boosted its projection, to at least $180 billion, and said its spending would be “significantly” higher next year.
“Every sign that we’re seeing in our own work and across the industry gives us confidence in this investment,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, said on a call with investors. The spending showcased how the biggest tech companies are deep into a wildly expensive era of A. I.
, which many of them see as an unparalleled chance to become far larger. And as the frenzy escalates, it’s increasingly only the planet’s wealthiest companies that have the money to lead this race.
That’s because Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta continue to dominate in core businesses that spew cash, such as serving ads on YouTube or Instagram, delivering items in a few hours or tallying cells in Excel.
The companies generated a combined $431 billion in sales in the quarter and made $151 billion in profit. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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