Big Tech just proved AI infrastructure spending works. Then it raised the bill anyway

In 2026's largest earnings report, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon invested between $630 billion and $650 billion in capital expenditures. The first quarter marked a genuine assessment of returns on these investments, yielding positive results across all four companies. For instance, Microsoft generated over $37 billion in annual AI revenue, with cloud revenue growing by 29%. Microsoft's capital expenditure forecast rose to $190 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations of $154.6 billion. Meanwhile, Google Cloud's revenue increased by 63%, reflecting the growing demand for cloud services.