Investing.com -- Artificial intelligence is consuming capital faster than investors can recalibrate. Bank of America now sees global hyperscale spending rising 67% in 2025 and another 31% in 2026, with total outlays climbing to $611 billion. That is a $145 billion increase in just one month’s estimates.
The surge shows how cloud giants are doubling down. Google raised its 2025 capital budget to $92 billion, Microsoft plans even faster growth into fiscal 2026, and Meta now expects spending of about $100 billion in 2026.
Amazon’s data center capacity is on track to double by 2027. None show intent to slow down, even as capex intensity approaches 30% of sales, roughly triple historic norms.
That level of investment is extraordinary. At its peak, the 5G telecom buildout consumed about 70% of operating cash flow, AI infrastructure is now approaching the same strain.
Yet companies remain convinced that scaling compute is both offensive and defensive: whoever trains bigger models gains advantage, while falling behind risks irrelevance.
The numbers also hint at a second-order boom. Memory, chipmaking tools, and networking equipment tied to AI data centers are now seeing clearer demand signals. Bank of America expects annual AI data center investment to triple to more than $1.2 trillion by 2030.
OpenAI’s $38 billion, seven-year deal with Amazon Web Services typifies the scramble for capacity. It follows supply agreements with Nvidia, AMD, Oracle and Korean memory makers. Such commitments lock in scarce chips and secure bandwidth in a race that is starting to resemble an arms buildup.
“We remain bullish on AI capex. We expect annual investments to nearly triple between CY25-30E to over $1.2Tn+, constrained only by ability to scale buildings and power,” analysts said.
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AI’s capital expenditure shows no sign of cooling
Published 2 hours ago
Nov 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM
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