Big Tech earnings this week: AI spending now uses 98% of their cash

Big Tech earnings arrive this week with one question above the rest: how long can the companies keep spending on AI at this pace? Alphabet and Microsoft report on Wednesday 28 October and Amazon on Thursday 29 October. In their latest reported quarters, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta spent $168.9bn on buildings, chips and other equipment, 98% of the $172.7bn of cash their businesses produced, by our calculation from their filings.

That leaves almost nothing over for dividends, buybacks or savings, and it raises the stakes for this week’s results.

When are the Big Tech earnings this week?

Alphabet holds its call on Wednesday at 4:30pm New York time, after the market closes. Microsoft reports its first quarter of the 2027 fiscal year the same day. Amazon reports on Thursday, with a call at 5pm New York time. Meta reported on 21 October. Wednesday is also the day of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, so markets will take in the Fed and two of the largest companies in the world within a few hours.

How much are they spending?

Each company’s cash flow statement shows the money spent on property and equipment, the capital spending or “capex” behind the AI build-out. The latest quarters:

• Alphabet, April to June 2026: $44.9bn of capex against $39.1bn of cash from operations, its 10-Q shows. In the first half of 2026 it spent $80.6bn, against $39.6bn in the first half of 2025.
• Microsoft, April to June 2026, the last quarter of its fiscal year: $35.8bn of capex against $55.5bn of operating cash. Over the full year it spent $116.0bn, up from $64.6bn the year before, its annual report shows.
• Amazon, April to June 2026: $54.2bn of capex against $45.4bn of operating cash, its 10-Q shows. Its first-half spending of $98.4bn was 72% above the $57.2bn of a year earlier.
• Meta, July to September 2026: $33.9bn of capex against $32.8bn of operating cash. Its free cash flow was negative $2.12bn, against positive $10.6bn a year earlier.

Capital spending as a share of cash from operations, latest reported quarter, %. Source: Company filings with the SEC (10-Q, 10-K, 8-K); our calculation, purchases of property and equipment over net cash from operating activities. Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon: April to June 2026; Meta: July to September 2026; Apple: nine months to 27 June 2026.

Amazon	119
Alphabet	115
Meta	104
Microsoft	65
Apple	6

Source: Company filings with the SEC (10-Q, 10-K, 8-K); our calculation, purchases of property and equipment over net cash from operating activities. Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon: April to June 2026; Meta: July to September 2026; Apple: nine months to 27 June 2026.The Macro Notebook

Three of the four spent more than their businesses brought in. They covered the gap from cash in the bank or from borrowing. Apple is the exception among the largest companies: in the nine months to 27 June it spent $6.8bn on capex against $117.0bn of operating cash, its 10-Q shows, about 6%.

Is the spending still rising?

Meta’s answer came last week. It expects 2026 capital spending, including payments on finance leases, of $135bn to $145bn, it said, narrowing its earlier range of $130bn to $145bn rather than cutting it. Its spending in the first nine months of 2026, $83.1bn, was already 72% above the $48.3bn of the same months of 2025.

Meta also said it expects to “sustain strong overall revenue growth throughout 2027” from its AI investments, but gave no 2027 spending figure. That is the number investors will look for from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon this week: whether 2027 brings another jump, a plateau or a cut.

What the market wants to hear

The pressure showed last week. As we reported on 23 October, the Nasdaq fell 2.6% in a day as Meta’s spending outran its cash and investors asked whether the AI boom is turning. Bonds rallied as shares fell.

For each company, three things will matter. First, how fast its AI revenue grows: cloud sales at Microsoft’s Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services are where most of the spending is meant to pay back. Second, its capital spending plan for 2027. Third, its cash: a company that spends more than it earns must draw down savings, borrow or cut buybacks. As we wrote on 15 October, AI is already changing who buys US bonds.

What to watch

Alphabet and Microsoft report after the US close on Wednesday, Amazon after the close on Thursday. The spending figures appear in each company’s cash flow statement; the 2027 plans usually come on the calls.