A large part of the investment has been spent on the acquisition or improvement of physical assets such as data centers, servers or energy infrastructure
The latest financial reports of four of Silicon Valley’s largest companies – Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s Alphabet – reveal an exponential increase in investment in artificial intelligence (AI), with plans to exceed this fiscal year the 368 billion euros.
These are values that exceed, for example, the quarterly budget of the European Union for Defense, which also exceed the total spent, in the same period, by the United States Government on Education, Training, Employment and Social Services-and that transform the technological race into an unprecedented capital arm between major companies in the sector.
Still for comparison, the 143 billion euros already invested this year by the largest US technological companies in artificial intelligence exceed the joint annual budget of several of the United Nations’s main agencies.
According to World Food ProgrammeIt would take about 27.6 billion euros a year to end hunger in the world. The World Bank estimates that the cost of guaranteeing universal access to drinking water and basic sanitation is around 105 billion per year by 2030. And UNESCO estimates that an annual injection of 35.9 billion would be sufficient to ensure universal basic education of quality in low -income countries.
Returning to technology, much of this investment is reflected in the so -called Capex – capital expenses, ie the amount spent on the acquisition or improvement of physical assets such as database, servers or energy infrastructure. In the current context, Capex acts as an indirect barometer of AI investment, as artificial intelligence systems require large -scale physical structures and intensive resource consumption, including electricity, water and high cost chips.
According to Google itself, the largest slice of its current Capex “reflects investments in servers and data centers to support AI.” The goal, in turn, has doubled the investment against the same period last year, spending 28.3 billion euros on Capex since the beginning of 2025 – half of which (15.6 billion) in the last quarter alone. In 2024, the quarterly value had been 7.8 billion.
Alphabet reports a total accumulated of nearly 36.8 billion euros in capital expenses during the first two quarters of the year, while Amazon reveals an investment of 51.2 billion. Microsoft estimates spending more than 27.6 billion in the current quarter alone, an increase of at least 50% compared to the same period. The company’s financial director, Amy Hood, said that the Capex of this quarter will exceed 22.3 billion registered between April and June 2024 – the highest amount ever – and justified the reinforcement with “the vastness of opportunities that open on the horizon.”
Predictions for next fiscal year anticipate an even more expressive acceleration.
Microsoft plans to allocate about 92 billion euros exclusively to AI development. The goal points to an interval between 60.7 billion and 66.2 billion. Alphabet has reviewed its estimates from 69 billion to 78.2 billion, and Amazon foresees a global investment of 92 billion, focusing on the growth of Amazon Web Services.
According to projections of analysts cited by the Wall Street Journalthis value may reach 108.6 billion euros. Adding the four giants, the annual expenses should exceed 368 billion euros.
Despite the size of the amounts, markets have reacted positively. Goal, Microsoft and Google have announced in recent weeks that their Capex levels would be higher than those initially planned. In all cases, the investor’s response was immediate: the actions went up after the results reports, and Microsoft’s scholarship capitalization exceeded 3.7 billion of euros the day after accounts.
Even Apple, the most contained in large technology, gave signs of repositioning. The company’s quarterly investment in Capex has risen from 2 billion to 3.2 billion euros, and the CEO, Tim Cook, announced that Apple is redirecting a significant part of its working force for AI areas. Without revealing concrete values, he has ensured that the company is “significantly increasing” investment and that priority is part of artificial intelligence features in all devices and platforms. “The heart of our AI strategy is to deepen this investment,” he said.
