Microsoft, Google, and Amazon each raised full-year capital expenditure guidance on their most recent earnings calls, taking the combined 2026 total to approximately $280 billion, up from roughly $230 billion guided at the start of the year.
All three companies cited AI training and inference demand that continues to outstrip available compute capacity, with Microsoft CFO Amy Hood noting the company remains "capacity constrained, not demand constrained" heading into the second half.
Investor reaction
Sell-side reaction has been mixed. Bulls point to the demand signal as validation of the AI investment cycle, while a growing minority of analysts have begun flagging depreciation and free cash flow pressure as capex intensity compounds.