The three biggest tech giants just sent Wall Street a clear message: their AI spending spree is far from over. Meta, Google, and Microsoft reported record quarterly profits Wednesday alongside massive infrastructure investments totaling over $200 billion, sparking fresh debate about whether we're witnessing an AI bubble in the making.
Three tech titans delivered the same message to investors Wednesday: buckle up for an AI spending marathon that's just getting started. Meta, Google, and Microsoft reported earnings that paint a picture of an industry doubling down on artificial intelligence infrastructure at unprecedented scale.
Meta led the charge with capital expenditures hitting $70-72 billion this year, up from earlier forecasts. But that's just the warm-up act. CFO Susan Li warned investors that next year's spending would be 'notably larger' as the social media giant chases what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls the 'most optimistic cases' for AI development. The company's $51.24 billion in quarterly revenue, up 26% year-over-year, is funding this aggressive expansion.
'There's a range of timelines for when people think we're going to get superintelligence,' Zuckerberg told analysts during the earnings call. 'I think it's the right strategy to aggressively front-load building capacity.' That front-loading includes compensation packages worth hundreds of millions for top AI researchers, even as Meta cut 600 jobs last week to streamline its AI operations.
Google parent Alphabet matched Meta's ambition with its own spending surge. The search giant revised its 2025 capital expenditure forecast from $75 billion to a staggering $91-93 billion range. That investment is already paying dividends - Alphabet posted record quarterly revenue of $102.3 billion, up 33% from last year, with cloud business revenue jumping 35% to $15.15 billion.
The numbers behind Google's AI push are equally impressive. Gemini, the company's flagship AI app, now claims 650 million monthly active users, up from 450 million last quarter. For context, OpenAI's ChatGPT recently reported 800 million weekly users, setting up a fierce competition for AI mindshare.
Microsoft rounded out the spending spree with $34.9 billion in quarterly capital expenditures, nearly $5 billion above forecasts and a 74% jump from the same period last year. The cloud computing giant's $77 billion in quarterly revenue, up 18% year-over-year, reflects how AI investments are already moving the needle for enterprise customers.
