Big Tech companies are accelerating artificial intelligence development with unprecedented capital expenditure. They plan spending above 700 billion dollars in 2026, equal to about 590 billion euros. This marks a roughly 75 percent increase compared with 2025. Several companies released earnings reports and outlined their spending plans. Analysts confirmed these projections and underlined their strategic significance.

Wall Street focuses heavily on the combined capital expenditure figure. The market tracks more than 700 billion dollars flowing into AI infrastructure this year. That amount exceeds Sweden’s nominal GDP for 2025, according to IMF estimates.

Global chip sales are expected to reach one trillion dollars this year for the first time. The US Semiconductor Industry Association published this forecast. JPMorgan Chase and McKinsey predict total AI capital expenditure will surpass five trillion dollars by 2030. They attribute this growth to extraordinary demand for computing power.

Capital expenditure describes spending on long-term assets such as property, equipment, and technology. These investments aim to increase capacity and efficiency over several years. Companies capitalise these costs on their balance sheets and depreciate them over time. Analysts treat CapEx as a key indicator of future growth and operational strength.

The current surge confirms a shift that began in 2025. Big Tech spent around 400 billion dollars on AI capital expenditure that year. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described this trend as the largest infrastructure build-out in human history. He repeated this view at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

Hyperscalers Deploy Vast Capital to Secure AI Supremacy

Amazon leads the spending race for 2026 with a planned 200 billion dollars in investment. That single figure exceeds the combined nominal GDP of the three Baltic states in 2025, based on IMF projections.

Alphabet follows with 185 billion dollars, while Microsoft and Meta plan 145 billion and 135 billion dollars respectively. Oracle increased its 2026 capital expenditure to 50 billion dollars, almost 15 billion above earlier guidance.

Tesla expects to spend nearly 20 billion dollars to scale its robotaxi fleet and develop the Optimus humanoid robot. Another Elon Musk venture, xAI, plans to spend at least 30 billion dollars in 2026.

The company will build a 20 billion dollar data centre called MACROHARDRR in Mississippi. The state governor described it as the largest private sector investment in Mississippi’s history. xAI will also expand the Colossus cluster in Tennessee, which Musk described as the world’s largest AI supercomputer.

SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock transaction this month. The deal valued SpaceX at one trillion dollars and xAI at 250 billion dollars. The combined entity now carries a valuation of 1.25 trillion dollars and ranks among the most valuable private companies in history.

Reports suggest SpaceX plans an IPO this year. Morgan Stanley is reportedly in talks to manage the offering, which would include exposure to xAI. Musk said the goal is to create an integrated innovation engine combining AI, rockets, and satellite internet. He also outlined long-term plans for solar-powered space-based data centres.

Apple continues to lag in spending with a projected 13 billion dollars. The company announced a multi-year partnership with Google to integrate Gemini models into Apple Intelligence. The collaboration will overhaul Siri and improve on-device AI features. Apple effectively outsources a significant share of its AI investment by relying on external partners.

Nvidia will report earnings and projections on 25 February. The company sells AI chips and is expected to capture a large share of Big Tech spending. Data centre construction will drive much of this demand. Jensen Huang previously estimated that each gigawatt of data centre capacity costs between 50 and 60 billion dollars. He said around 35 billion dollars of each project typically goes to Nvidia hardware.

Investors Debate the Risks Behind the Capital Surge

Investors show mixed reactions to the massive spending plans. Many understand the urgency of securing an AI advantage. Others fear the scale of spending and the reliance on debt financing.

Morgan Stanley estimates hyperscalers will borrow around 400 billion dollars in 2026. That figure more than doubles the 165 billion dollars borrowed in 2025. Analysts warn this could push high-grade US corporate bond issuance to a record 2.25 trillion dollars this year.

Projected AI revenue for 2026 remains far below spending levels. Analysts highlight risks such as rapid hardware depreciation and high energy costs. The strategy depends heavily on future success and sustained demand. Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged elements of irrationality in the current spending pace.

Rothschild & Co analyst Alex Haissl downgraded Amazon and Microsoft in November. He argued investors value their capital expenditure plans as if legacy cloud economics still applied. He warned AI economics will likely prove far more expensive than markets expect.

Michael Burry also raised concerns and described the AI boom as a potential bubble. He pointed to unsustainable capital expenditure and excessive optimism. Big Tech’s AI race relies heavily on leverage, and outcomes remain uncertain. Nvidia currently benefits strongly, while Apple pursues a partnership-driven strategy instead of massive internal spending.

Europe Struggles to Close the Growing AI Investment Gap

The spending spree raises urgent questions about Europe’s ability to compete. The AI race has become a battle of balance sheets. American firms mobilise nearly 600 billion euros in a single year. Coordinated EU efforts do not match the spending power of even the smallest US tech giant.

Brussels launched the AI Factories initiative and the AI Continent Action Plan to mobilise public and private investments. These programmes aim to strengthen Europe’s AI ecosystem and infrastructure. However, the financial gap remains stark. European sovereign cloud data infrastructure spending is forecast to reach only 10.6 billion euros in 2026.

That represents an 83 percent year-on-year increase, but it remains negligible compared with US investments. Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch said US companies build the equivalent of a new Apollo programme every year. He also argued Europe cannot regulate its way to computing supremacy.

Mistral represents one of Europe’s few strong challengers. The company aggressively expands its physical footprint. It raised 1.7 billion euros in a Series C round in September 2025 at a valuation near 12 billion euros. ASML led the round with a 1.3 billion euro investment.

Mensch confirmed a one billion euro capital expenditure plan for 2026. Mistral also announced a 1.2 billion euro investment to build a data centre in Borlänge, Sweden. The project partners with EcoDataCenter and aims to deliver sovereign compute under strict EU data standards. Sweden’s abundant green energy will support the facility.

The data centre will open in 2027 and provide high-performance computing for next-generation AI models. It marks Mistral’s first infrastructure project outside France and a core pillar of European data sovereignty.

US tech giants also offer so-called sovereign-light solutions in Europe. They launch localised cloud zones in countries like Germany and Portugal and promise data residency. Critics argue these systems remain dependent on US parent companies. They warn Europe remains vulnerable to American economic shifts and foreign policy decisions.

As 2026 unfolds, the stakes are clear. The United States bets heavily on AI dominance and its credit capacity. Europe relies on targeted investments and regulation to carve out a sovereign niche in a world increasingly shaped by American technology.