By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 02 Aug 2025 • 22:47
• 2 minutes read
Tech giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, among others, have invested $155 billion in AI so far this year | Credit: Anggalih Prasetya/Shutterstock
Big Tech is spending more than ever on artificial intelligence – but the returns are rising too, and investors are buying in. The US’s largest firms have been locked in a competition this year to see who spends more on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The result is that so far this year, companies investing in AI have spent over $155 billion (approximately 134 billion euros) on AI development. According to the Guardian, that’s more than the US government has invested in education, training, employment and social services combined.
And the year or the competition is over. Based on the most recent financial disclosures of Silicon Valley’s most prominent players, the race is about to accelerate to hundreds of billions in a single year. Over the past two weeks, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, Google’s parent, have shared their quarterly public financial reports, showing they have each spent tens of billions of dollars either to acquire or upgrade tangible AI assets.
‘We will continue to invest’ in AI
Meta’s year-to-date capital expenditure amounted to $30.7 billion (26.5 billion euros), doubling the $15.2 billion (13.1 billion euros) figure from the same time last year, per its earnings report. Alphabet (Google) reported nearly $40 billion (34.5 billion euros) in capex to date for the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, and Amazon reported $55.7 billion. Microsoft said it would spend more than $30 billion (26 billion euros) in the current quarter to build out the data centres powering its AI services.
“We will continue to invest against the expansive opportunity ahead,” said Microsoft CFO Amy Hood.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said Thursday that the company was reallocating a “fair number” of employees to focus on AI and that the “heart of our AI strategy” is to increase investments and “embed” AI across all of its devices and platforms.
“We are significantly growing our investment, I’m not putting specific numbers behind that,” Cook added.
AI spend is ‘shockingly high’
“As companies like Alphabet and Meta race to deliver on the promise of AI, capital expenditures are shockingly high and will remain elevated for the foreseeable future,” said Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, according to Reuters..
But if their core businesses remain strong, “it will buy them more time with investors and provide confidence that the billions being spent on infrastructure, talent, and other tech-related expenses will be worthwhile,” Williamson added.
