Usman Salis
● Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft are now spending nearly $100 billion every quarter on AI infrastructure. That's not a typo — we're talking about $100B per quarter, not per year.
● Dalton Caldwell recently shared a chart that really puts this in perspective. These four tech giants are in the middle of what might be the biggest corporate building spree in history, pouring money into AI research, data centers, and chip development.
● Meta's leading the pack right now, betting heavily on AI and its Reality Labs project. Google and Amazon are racing to expand their cloud infrastructure to handle the explosion in AI applications. Microsoft keeps writing massive checks to OpenAI while building out Azure's supercomputing network.
● But here's where it gets interesting — and a bit concerning. This level of spending could create some serious problems down the road. We're talking about potential strain on power grids, shortages of raw materials, and competition for industrial real estate. Smaller companies might find themselves completely priced out of the AI game as computing power gets concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
● To put this in context: before 2022, these companies combined were spending less than $30 billion per quarter. Now they've more than tripled that. While this spending definitely cements their position as AI leaders, investors are starting to ask tough questions. Are they overspending? When will this actually pay off? Some analysts think they should pace themselves better and tie investments more closely to actual customer demand.
● The ripple effects are already showing up everywhere. Energy markets are transforming, semiconductor demand is through the roof, and power companies are suddenly finding themselves at the center of the tech industry's future. Some economists think we're watching tech and utilities merge into something entirely new — all because of AI.
Usman Salis
