A program of EffectiveSC
How We Use AISources checked October 24, 2026
$165.1B Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta spent $165.1 billion on property and equipment from April to June 2026, up 87% from $88.2 billion a year earlier.
The four spent $376.1 billion in calendar 2025 and $294.8 billion in the first half of 2026.
$39.4B Microsoft spent $39.4 billion on property and equipment from July to September 2026, up 103% from $19.4 billion a year earlier.
Meta spent $33.9 billion on property and equipment from July to September 2026, up 80% from $18.8 billion a year earlier. Oracle spent $28.5 billion from June to August 2026, 3.4 times the $8.5 billion it spent a year earlier. Alphabet and Amazon had not filed for July to September 2026 when we checked on October 28, 2026.
Purchases of property and equipment, billions of US dollars, by the calendar quarter in which each company's fiscal quarter ends
Meta says it expects capital expenditures of about $135 billion to $145 billion in 2026. Estimate
Oracle says it expects capital expenditures in fiscal 2027, which ends in May 2027, to be higher than in fiscal 2026. Estimate
The IEA said in April 2026 that the capital expenditure of five large technology companies surged to more than $400 billion in 2025 and is set to increase by a further 75% in 2026. Estimate
The IEA's press release doesn't name the five companies, so its figure can't be checked against this tracker.
Each figure is the cash a company spent buying property and equipment in a quarter, from the cash flow statement in its 10-Q or 10-K filing with the SEC. Companies report year-to-date totals in later quarters, so we subtract the prior filing's year-to-date figure to get the quarter; those cells carry an asterisk. Every figure was checked against the filing's tagged data and the SEC's company facts on October 28, 2026.
Not all of it is AI. None of the five breaks out AI spending. The figures include offices, warehouses and other buildings, and Amazon's include its fulfillment network.
| Company | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | 16,745 | 17,079* | 19,394 | 29,876 | 30,876 | 35,802* | 39,367 |
| Alphabet | 17,197 | 22,446* | 23,953* | 27,851* | 35,674 | 44,924* | Not yet filed |
| Amazon | 25,019 | 32,183 | 35,095 | 39,522* | 44,203 | 54,208 | Not yet filed |
| Meta | 12,941 | 16,538* | 18,829* | 21,383* | 18,997 | 30,116* | 33,942* |
| Oracle | 5,862* | 9,080* | 8,502 | 12,033* | 18,635* | 16,493* | 28,499 |
| Total | 77,764 | 97,326 | 105,773 | 130,665 | 148,385 | 181,543 | 101,808 (partial) |
Spend and tokens
How much will the world spend on AI in 2026?
Gartner forecasts $2.67 trillion, more than half of it for infrastructure.
EstimateSpend and tokens
Do companies that pay for AI actually use it?
55.9% of businesses on Ramp paid for AI in September 2026; 24.6% of US businesses told the Census Bureau they had used it in the past two weeks.
Spend and tokens
Who sells AI at work, and for how much?
List prices and the commercial results each seller has published.
The AI at Work Benchmark
Score your organization's practices, measure your people with an anonymous pulse, and see both against the published evidence.