Amazon projects $200 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, encompassing AI, chips, robotics, and satellites, significantly up from $131.8 billion in 2025. While not solely AI-related due to its extensive physical plant, this spending positions Amazon as a frontrunner in the AI infrastructure race. The company has also made strides in custom chips like Graviton and Trainium, with Trainium being central to major investment commitments from OpenAI and Anthropic. Amazon's cloud division, AWS, saw a 28% growth in revenue, driven by AI demand, and the company has invested in AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Google is close behind Amazon, projecting between $175 billion and $185 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, an increase from $91.4 billion the previous year. This substantial investment reflects its commitment to building AI infrastructure. Google's cloud computing unit reported solid growth, with sales of $20 billion last quarter, exceeding projections, with demand for its AI software and infrastructure driving acceleration. The company's backlog of contracted work nearly doubled to over $460 billion, and its consumer AI services, such as the Gemini app, are seeing strong performance.
Competitors like Meta projected $115 billion to $135 billion in capex spending for 2026, while Oracle projected $50 billion. Microsoft, without an official 2026 projection, had a recent quarterly figure of $37.5 billion, suggesting around $150 billion annually. Despite these massive investments, investors have shown concern, with stock prices of these companies declining as they commit hundreds of billions of dollars. Analysts note that Amazon and Google's investments in custom silicon, cloud services, and software tools are part of a strategy to build comprehensive AI ecosystems and reduce reliance on third-party hardware suppliers like Nvidia.
