Big Tech's back on a spending binge — only this time, it's not about COVID-19 pandemic-fueled growth or cloud land grabs. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google are spending like it's 2021 again, with data centers, GPUs and AI infrastructure replacing metaverse dreams and remote-work hardware as the new capital obsession.
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According to JPMorgan's Samik Chatterjee, the trio's combined capex jumped 23% quarter-over-quarter and 85% year-over-year to nearly $80 billion in the September quarter — and the spree isn't stopping there.
Big Tech's Billion-Dollar Binge
Meta's not just feeding the metaverse anymore — it's feeding GPUs. The company's third-quarter capex jumped 111% year-over-year to $19 billion, prompting it to raise its 2025 outlook to as high as $72 billion and signal an even bigger dollar growth in 2026 — possibly crossing the $100 billion mark.
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Microsoft's pace isn't any slower. Its September-quarter capex rose 74% year-over-year to $35 billion, with the company projecting 60%+ growth in FY26, driven by relentless AI and cloud demand. Half of that is going into short-lived assets — think GPUs, CPUs and server refreshes — showing how quickly AI hardware cycles are compressing.
Meanwhile, Google's spending plans look like a rerun of 2019's cloud race — only supercharged. Capex rose 83% year-over-year to $24 billion, and it now sees 2025 spend up 74% year-over-year, with another "significant" jump expected in 2026.
Read Also: CoreWeave To Double Down, Captures Microsoft And Google’s AI Dollars
The Hidden Winners: AI's Supply Chain Stocks
Chatterjee points out the real story may lie below Big Tech — in the companies wiring, cooling and building the new data center empire. Names like Amphenol Corp (NYSE:APH), Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET), Celestica Inc (NYSE:CLS), Ciena Corp (NYSE:CIEN), Fabrinet (NYSE:FN), Jabil Inc (NYSE:JBL), and Flex Ltd (NASDAQ:FLEX) could be early beneficiaries as hyperscalers race to keep AI infrastructure humming.
Follow The Builders, Not The Buzz
Meta, Microsoft and Google are spending like there's no tomorrow — and for investors, that means the smart play may be in the picks and shovels of AI's next wave, not just the headline names training models.
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Photo: MMD Creative via Shutterstock
