Krux
February 10, 2026
Big Tech's $600B AI Spending Spree: Hype or Hardware?
Published: February 10, 2026 at 12:45 AM
Updated: February 10, 2026 at 12:45 AM
100-word summary
Big Tech is going all-in on AI infrastructure in 2026—dropping roughly $600 billion collectively. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle are leading the charge, with Alphabet alone budgeting up to $185 billion. But here's the twist: RBC Capital warns a chunk of that surge is just inflated memory prices (DRAM, HBM), not pure hardware expansion. Meanwhile, Gartner forecasts global AI spending hitting $2.52 trillion this year. This could mean the AI arms race is as much about optics as actual capability—unless ROI finally catches up.
What happened
Big Tech is going all-in on AI infrastructure in 2026—dropping roughly $600 billion collectively. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle are leading the charge, with Alphabet alone budgeting up to $185 billion. But here's the twist: RBC Capital warns a chunk of that surge is just inflated memory prices (DRAM, HBM), not pure hardware expansion. Meanwhile, Gartner forecasts global AI spending hitting $2.52 trillion this year.
Why it matters
This could mean the AI arms race is as much about optics as actual capability—unless ROI finally catches up.