AI bills balloon at Meta and Microsoft — memory chips alone cost $25 billion
This week's earnings laid bare the cost of the AI race. Meta's expenses jumped 55% to $42 billion, its net income fell 14%, and it now plans $130–145 billion of capital spending this year; its stock dropped on weak guidance and shrinking free cash flow. Microsoft's CFO said pricier memory and components account for about $25 billion of its record budget, and that roughly two-thirds of the spending goes to short-lived hardware like GPUs. The four biggest tech firms combined now plan around $725 billion of capital spending in 2026.
Why it mattersThe AI buildout is straining even the world's richest balance sheets, and data centers now swallow a large share of global memory-chip output — inflation that is already spilling into consumer electronics prices. Investors are openly demanding proof the spending pays off.
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