Wall Street’s love affair with Big Tech is starting to show its cracks. AlphabetGOOGL

, MicrosoftMSFT

, and MetaMETA

delivered their quarterly reports yesterday — though not every investor walked away happy. While Alphabet shares jumped 7% after hours, Meta’s and Microsoft’s stock tumbled more than 7.4% and 3.7% respectively.

• Alphabet hit a record $102.3B in revenue, while Microsoft’s revenue climbed 18%, with Azure growing ~40% as CEO Satya Nadella said demand is outpacing capacity.
• However, Meta’s story turned sour despite beating revenue estimates at $51.24B, as a tax charge hammered earnings per share to just $1.05, versus the anticipated $6.72.

AI spendathon: Meta CFO Susan Li cautioned that 2026 capital expenditures will be “notably larger” than the ~$72B expected for 2025, with total expenses rising at a “significantly faster percentage rate” due to soaring infrastructure and cloud costs. Collectively, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are projected to spend over $430B annually on AI infrastructure by 2027, with BNP Paribas analysts suggesting it could climb as high as $500B as they vie for AI dominance. The market’s patience for such massive outlays remains intact (for now) — but investors are increasingly demanding real returns beyond headline revenue growth.