Big Tech’s $660B AI Spending Spree Triggers Market Wipeout as Bubble Fears Return

Big Tech is asking investors to stomach its most aggressive spending cycle yet. AmazonAMZN

, AlphabetGOOGL

, MicrosoftMSFT

, and MetaMETA

plan to spend $660B on AI infrastructure in 2026, up 60% from 2025 and nearly triple 2024 levels. The scale has left investors questioning whether earnings can justify such spending.

• Tech companies wiped out over $1T in market value this week after revealing aggressive AI spending plans and concentrated risk exposure.
• Wall Street’s enthusiasm for AI infrastructure is cooling rapidly, with Jefferies’ Brent Thill saying, “AI bubble fears are settling back in.”

Apple of investors’ eye: While peers bled market value, AppleAAPL

stood out after cutting capex 17% in Q4. Instead of building in-house models, the iPhone maker struck a roughly $1B-per-year deal to use Google’s Gemini, shifting AI infrastructure costs off its balance sheet via a pay-as-you-go approach. As SLC Management’s Dec Mullarkey warned, rising capex “telegraphs that it may take longer for AI strategies to play out” — a message investors focused on near-term returns don’t want to hear.