All four AI hyperscalers have more than tripled their capital expenditures (capex) over the last five years. Microsoft, an early investor in OpenAI (the organization behind ChatGPT), has more than tripled its capex spending, fueled by growing demand for data centers.
Combined capex spending at these companies rose by 84% from 2024 to 2025 alone, going from $224 billion to $413 billion. Combined, they're expected to spend between $600 and $700 billion in 2026, based on company guidance.
The figures represent total capex for each company. A significant majority reflects AI infrastructure and data centers, each company described its 2025 spending as primarily driven by AI and cloud build-out, but the figures also include other non-AI capital assets.
AI spending is split between chips and infrastructure,
The breakdown of AI data center investment reveals that hardware, primarily GPUs and other AI chips, accounts for the majority of total spend, with physical infrastructure representing the remainder.
- Chips account for roughly 60% of total AI data center investment, according to McKinsey's 2025 analysis of the projected $5.2 trillion in AI infrastructure spending through 2030. The remaining 40% covers power systems, cooling, construction, networking, and land.
- AI spending is split nearly evenly between chips and other infrastructure at the company level, according to New Street Research. Microsoft and Alphabet spend more on chips as a share of total AI capex than Meta and Amazon, based on their analysis, a pattern likely driven by how deeply each company has integrated AI into its core products.
- For 2026, Goldman Sachs estimates roughly $180 billion in GPU and accelerator purchases out of an estimated $450 billion in total AI infrastructure spend, about 40%. Nvidia [NASDAQ:NVDA], the leading GPU designer, has benefited from strong demand from hyperscalers in recent years.
Data center construction spending has grown 85% in two years
Private data center construction spending in the United States reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $45.1 billion per month in December 2025, up 85% from $24.5 billion in December 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau construction spending data.
- The pace of growth has been consistent and steep. In January 2024, the monthly rate was $24.9 billion. By January 2025, it had climbed to $35.8 billion. By December 2025, the rate reached $45.1 billion.
- The trend is relatively new. Monthly data center construction spending averaged roughly $9–10 billion from 2020 through early 2022. Spending quickly ramped up in early 2023 and has not plateaued. The December 2025 reading is the highest recorded.
- The data captures physical construction only, not IT equipment purchases. It is reported as a seasonally adjusted annual rate — meaning the monthly figure is scaled to reflect what spending would be over a full year at that pace. These are Census Bureau estimates and are subject to revision.
