Four of the world’s most valuable companies, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft, reported their quarterly earnings within minutes of each other on Wednesday (April 29), turning the spotlight on an unprecedented corporate spending race. Together, the four hyperscalers are on track to spend a combined $650 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2026, the largest capital expenditure commitment in corporate history.
All four beat Wall Street’s revenue estimates. But the market’s verdict was sharply split: Alphabet’s shares surged nearly 7% in after-hours trading, Amazon rose about 4%, Microsoft held roughly flat, and Meta fell between 4% and 7% as investors punished the social media giant for raising its already-massive spending guidance without a clear monetisation roadmap.
Meta takes brunt of investor concerns
Meta reported Q1 revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33% from $42.3 billion a year earlier, but the numbers that moved the stock were about spending, not earning. Meta raised its full-year 2026 capex guidance to $125 billion to $145 billion, a $10 billion hike at the midpoint.
CFO Susan Li said the company had previously underestimated its computing power requirements and now had to invest more to meet demand. When asked how the heavy spending would translate into profits, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta does not yet have a fixed roadmap for how every AI product will scale, but said the company has a clear sense of direction and is confident its Superintelligence Lab is developing into one of the world’s top AI research centres.
Zuckerberg’s most striking comments, however, were about Meta’s workforce. He said AI is transforming internal operations so dramatically that work which once required dozens of employees over months can now be done by one or two people in a week.
Shares fell about 4.4% in after-hours trading according to Bloomberg, with some trackers recording a decline of up to 7% at different points in the extended session.
Alphabet surges on blowout cloud growth
Alphabet delivered the strongest results of the four, posting Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22% from $90.2 billion a year earlier. On the spending front, Alphabet raised its full-year 2026 capex guidance to $180 billion to $190 billion, up from a previous range of $175 billion to $185 billion, partly to account for the Intersect acquisition that closed in March
“We are at the beginning of one of the most consequential platform shifts that will change the entire tech stack as we move from end-user driven workloads to workloads driven by end-users and agents,” Satya Nadella shared.
The company is looking at building the world’s leading AI infrastructure and agent platform as agents proliferate and become the dominant workload, he added.
Why Microsoft stock dropped 2% even after strong quarterly results
Microsoft’s stock dropped nearly 2% right after the company released its quarterly results, but later recovered some of those losses in after-hours trading.
The company beat revenue forecasts, posting sales of $83 billion — a 16% increase from the same period last year. Profits also rose 23% to $38 billion. However, heavy spending on artificial intelligence has started to affect its free cash flow, a key measure that shows how much cash the company actually has available.
For the quarter, Microsoft’s free cash flow fell to $15.8 billion, which is nearly $6 billion lower than the same quarter a year ago.
Despite the drop in cash flow, CEO Satya Nadella highlighted strong momentum in the company’s AI business. He noted that the AI segment is now on track to generate an annual run rate of $37 billion.
Microsoft’s finance chief, Amy Hood, tried to ease investor worries about the high spending. She explained that the company’s AI investments are progressing more smoothly and delivering better profit margins compared to the early days when Microsoft was shifting its business to cloud computing.
Still, investor concerns remain. Microsoft’s stock is down about 11% so far this year, with many questioning the massive costs of its AI push and its large investment of over $10 billion in OpenAI.
Amazon shares rise in after-hours trading despite lower profit outlook
Amazon’s stock fell briefly after the company warned that it expects to make less profit than previously forecasted in the upcoming quarter. However, the actual quarterly results met analyst expectations, and the shares later climbed 2.7% in extended trading.
The company reported a 15% increase in profits compared to the same period last year. Its cloud computing business, which is becoming increasingly important for Amazon, grew by 28%, marking its strongest growth in more than four years.
CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the rapid progress in Amazon’s own AI chip business, reported the BBC. He said the annual run rate for these chips has now reached $20 billion.
Jassy also pointed to Amazon’s heavy investment in artificial intelligence, which is expected to total around $200 billion this year. He noted that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has formed strong partnerships with major AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI.
He told analysts that these AI-related efforts are driving significant growth, and the surge in AI demand is also boosting the company’s core business, the report added.