Big Tech just handed Wall Street the AI receipt pile—and, mostly, investors didn’t run screaming. In an unusually packed earnings night, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all posted double-digit cloud growth, suggesting the AI boom is still translating into actual revenue.
The tension: everyone loves AI growth until the bill arrives. The four reporting giants have planned a combined $650 billion in 2026 AI infrastructure spending, and investors are watching capex like it’s a group project where one person bought a supercomputer.
- Alphabet reported $109.9 billion in revenue, above the $107.2 billion expected, and Google Cloud grew 63% year over year.
- Microsoft posted $4.27 earnings per share, topping the $4.06 analysts expected.
- Meta beat revenue expectations at $56.31 billion, but its stock fell more than 5% after hours as it raised projected capex to $125 billion–$145 billion.
- Qualcomm shares jumped more than 13% after beating Q2 estimates, even as its Q3 revenue outlook missed Wall Street’s target.
Big picture: AI spending is now the market’s main character. The Magnificent Seven make up over 30% of the S&P 500 market cap, so cloud wins can calm bubble fears—but rising budgets and layoffs keep the “what’s the payoff?” debate very alive.
Looking ahead… Qualcomm’s next big AI clue may come in June, when CEO Cristiano Amon gives the Computex keynote in Taiwan and is expected to detail its data center strategy.
