US big tech is spending $806 billion on artificial intelligence, China’s $116 billion

Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle are spending $806 billion on data centers and chips in 2026. 🤖 That is $2.2 billion a day, including weekends. In 2022, they spent $156 billion for the year. Their spending has grown fivefold in four years, and Goldman Sachs estimates it will reach $1,234 billion in 2027.

The four Chinese companies—Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and Baidu—are spending $116 billion, roughly seven times less. They are investing heavily too, but for now the US companies are funding the larger buildout.

This is cash leaving the business. 💸 In 2025, Amazon generated $139 billion from its operations and spent $132 billion on data centres and warehouses: almost all of it. If the investment pays off, the companies that built first may benefit. If it does not, shareholders will bear the cost.

Who benefits today? Chip suppliers, data centre builders and the companies selling the electricity needed to run them. 🧭 Our view: spending on this scale is unlikely to stop overnight. While it keeps rising, it supports the entire supply chain. The bigger risk comes when one of the five companies decides to pull back.

In our Intermediate portfolio, Amazon accounts for 1.6% and Alphabet for 3.3%. We do not hold Microsoft, Meta or Oracle.

Source: Goldman Sachs, 18 September 2026. We calculated the five US companies’ 2022–2025 figures from their financial statements.