Top 5 US Tech Companies by Capital Expenditure in First Three Quarters of 2026: Amazon Leads With $172.2 Billion, Oracle Ranks Fifth at $63.6 Billion

Methodology Note: Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta figures cover the first three quarters of 2026; Microsoft figures are aggregated across the first three quarters of calendar year 2026; Oracle figures cover its latest three fiscal quarters ended August 31, 2026. Reporting periods vary by company; the figures are for scale comparison only and do not constitute a strict ranking.

Amazon: Full-Year CapEx Expected to Reach $220 Billion

Amazon's cash capital expenditures reached $172.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2026, primarily allocated to technology infrastructure investments, the vast majority of which supported AWS business growth, with the remainder used for fulfillment network expansion.

AWS third-quarter revenue was approximately $46 billion, up 39% year over year. Amazon expects full-year cash capital expenditures to be around $220 billion, with further increases anticipated in 2027.

Over the trailing 12 months, the company's free cash flow stood at negative $42.357 billion, primarily weighed down by increased purchases of property and equipment. Moving forward, attention should focus on AWS growth and the cash return on newly added infrastructure.

Alphabet: Cloud Growth Accelerates as Depreciation Costs Warrant Attention

Alphabet's CapEx reached $132.0 billion in the first three quarters of 2026, with third-quarter spending alone at $51.4 billion. The company continues to scale up investments in data centers, servers, and network infrastructure to support AI model training, inference services, and cloud business growth.

In the third quarter, Google Cloud revenue reached $30.7 billion, up 103% year over year. Enterprise AI infrastructure, AI solutions, and core cloud services all supported growth, with TPU system sales also contributing.

Alphabet expects full-year 2026 CapEx to reach $195 billion to $205 billion, with further increases anticipated in 2027. As infrastructure scales up, depreciation and data center operating costs will also rise.

Whether Google Cloud's revenue growth can cover these incremental costs will impact future margin performance.

Microsoft: Investments in GPUs and Servers Continue to Rise

Microsoft's cash payments for property and equipment totaled approximately $106.0 billion across the first three reported quarters of calendar year 2026, primarily used for data centers and equipment such as CPUs and GPUs to support the development of Azure and AI services.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Microsoft's capital expenditures were $45.2 billion, of which cash paid for property and equipment accounted for $39.4 billion. The company stated that roughly three-quarters of its CapEx for the quarter was spent on short-lived assets, primarily CPUs and GPUs, with rising memory and storage costs also pushing up related spending.

During the same period, Azure revenue grew 48% year over year. As AI infrastructure investments continue to expand, market attention will focus on Azure's pace of growth, server utilization rates, and the impact of newly added asset depreciation on profit margins.

Meta: Can AI Investments Continue to Improve the Advertising Business?

In the first three quarters of 2026, Meta's cash capital expenditures for property and equipment totaled approximately $83.1 billion, or about $85.8 billion when including principal payments on finance leases. The company expects full-year CapEx to be between $135 billion and $145 billion, including finance lease principal payments.

Meta continues to invest in data centers, servers, and AI infrastructure, deploying the technologies to improve ad recommendations and delivery efficiency. The extent of AI's contribution to the advertising business will influence future returns on investment.

However, infrastructure expansion will also drive up depreciation and operating expenses. Investors will need to watch whether ad revenue growth remains sustainable and how AI spending impacts profit margins and free cash flow.

Oracle: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Expansion Puts Pressure on Funding and Cash Flow

Oracle's CapEx for the most recent three reported quarters ended August 31, 2026, totaled approximately $63.6 billion. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, CapEx reached $28.5 billion, up 235% year over year, primarily used for the construction of data centers and cloud infrastructure.

During the same period, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue was approximately $7.4 billion, up 121% year over year, while total cloud revenue reached about $11.6 billion. However, heavy investments have also pressured cash flows: first-quarter operating cash flow was $23.1 billion, while free cash flow stood at negative $5.4 billion.

Going forward, key areas to monitor include the growth of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, financing costs, and improvements in cash flow.

Large tech companies continue to increase their AI infrastructure investments, driving demand growth for AI chips, storage, servers, networking equipment, and supporting data center facilities. However, as the scale of investment expands, depreciation, operating, and financing costs may also rise accordingly.

For Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle, the market's focus is no longer merely on the scale of capital expenditures, but also on whether growth in cloud and AI revenue can translate into sufficient profits and cash flow to support future investments.

Therefore, investors need to monitor cloud revenue growth, the commercialization progress of AI products, profit margins, and changes in free cash flow. Whether newly added computing power can translate into actual revenue and profit will be key to gauging the return on investment for this round of AI infrastructure spending.

This content was translated using AI and reviewed for clarity. It is for informational purposes only.