Reuters notes that Alphabet beat expectations and lifted capital spending on the back of AI demand, while Meta flagged even bigger capital costs ahead as it scales infrastructure. Here are ten fast facts that put the capex spike in context for platforms, advertisers, and developers. Reuters+1
10 facts:
- Alphabet’s quarterly revenue topped $102B with Cloud up 34% YoY—fuel for more data-center buildouts. Reuters
- Adjusted EPS beat street estimates, signaling cash-flow support for longer AI payback cycles. Reuters
- Meta guided higher 2026 capex, tying costs to model training and inference capacity. Reuters
- GPU/TPU scarcity is easing, but networking and power constraints are the new limiters. Reuters
- Ad platforms expect better conversion modeling as AI products mature—monetization lags infra by quarters. Reuters
- Cloud margins hinge on utilization: idle accelerators are a bigger risk than sticker prices. Reuters
- Vendors push “AI PCs/edge” to offload cloud costs; ecosystems co-evolve, not replace. Reuters
- Compliance/GDPR and AI Act timelines steer product roadmaps and vendor questionnaires. Reuters
- Expect M&A in data-center power, cooling, and networking as firms chase efficiency. Reuters
- Bottom line: capex is a moat only if usage scales—watch unit economics, not headlines. Reuters