AI boom: Big Tech capital expenditures now seen topping $1 trillion in 2027

wall street analysts now see big tech ai capital expenditures topping $1 trillion in 2027. evercore and bank of america both put the number above that threshold after this week's earnings calls. 2026 estimates sit between $800 billion and $900 billion. this year's spending projections jumped across the board. alphabet up 4% to $185 billion. amazon up 1% to $200 billion. meta up 8% to $135 billion. microsoft up 24% to $190 billion, per bank of america's tally. jefferies analysts noted "cap-ex continues to soar as demand outpaces supply and pricing increases." alphabet's first-quarter cloud revenue surged 63% year-over-year, sending shares up about 10%. cfo anat ashkenazi said capex plans are increasing to meet "robust demand." google's backlog nearly doubled quarter-over-quarter with a 400% annual increase to $462 billion, per bmo capital markets. the majority is for core google cloud platform contracts, with over 50% expected as revenue in the next 24 months. meta's expansion plans worried investors — shares down about 8%. the company spent $72 billion on capex in 2025 and expects to double that in 2026 to between $125 billion and $145 billion. free cash flow dropped to $1.2 billion in q1 from $26 billion a year ago. jefferies wrote "meta likely remains in the penalty box pending clearer capex roi."