WSJ: Big Tech’s AI spending spree is getting expensive — and investors want payback
The Wall Street Journal argues that Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet are ramping capital spending for AI fast enough that depreciation is starting to bite, raising pressure to translate AI demand into durable profit.
The Wall Street Journal says the biggest U.S. tech platforms are deepening their AI infrastructure buildout even as the financial consequences become harder to ignore. WSJ reports that Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet collectively spent $133 billion in capital expenditures in Q1 — about 70% more than a year earlier — and that their updated forecasts point to roughly $725 billion of capex this year.
The piece frames the situation as a race against time: as the cost of data centers and AI hardware flows through depreciation and earnings, investors will demand clearer proof that the AI boom will generate returns that justify the scale of spending.
Read the original reporting at The Wall Street Journal.
