Microsoft, Meta, Amazon face investor anxiety over AI spending as Big Tech capex tops $700B

The four largest AI spenders in tech now plan to pour more than $700 billion into capital expenditures in 2026. Investors are starting to wonder if anyone ran the numbers on a napkin first. Alphabet kicked off the anxiety spiral on July 22 when it raised its 2026 capex guidance to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion, a $15 billion jump from its prior estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion. The company pointed to surging demand for AI infrastructure and cloud services as the reason. Wall Street’s response was swift and unforgiving. The sell-off spread fast Alphabet shares dropped roughly 6% after the earnings announcement. But the damage didn’t stop there. Amazon and Oracle each fell more than 4%. Meta slid 3%. Microsoft declined over 2%. When you combine the capex guidance from all four major players, the total is staggering. Alphabet sits at $195 billion to $205 billion. Amazon is targeting around $200 billion. Microsoft is in the neighborhood of $190 billion. Meta has guided for $125 billion to $145 billion. That is over $700 billion in capital spending for a single year, nearly double what these companies spent previously. Roughly 75% of that total is earmarked for AI infr...