Amazon is expected to spend $200 billion on capital expenditures this year, far exceeding market expectations.

Amazon joined the ranks of other large tech companies on Thursday, announcing plans for a massive capital expenditure in 2026, the latest sign that American tech firms are not slowing down their huge artificial intelligence investments in the short term. The company stated that it expects to spend approximately $200 billion in capital expenditures across the entire Amazon system in 2026. This is higher than the market's previous expectations of $144.67 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Due to Amazon's forecast for first-quarter operating profit being in the range of $16.5 billion to $21.5 billion, lower than the market's expectation of $22.04 billion, the company's stock price continued to decline in after-hours trading, falling more than 11% at one point. Large tech companies are investing huge sums of money in procuring processors, building data centers, and network equipment to accelerate the construction of AI infrastructure. The four largest cloud service providers - Amazon, Microsoft, Google under Alphabet, and Meta - are expected to have a total capital expenditure of over $500 billion this year. However, recent technology company financial reports have also sent a clear signal to the business world: the rapid growth in AI spending will only be continuously tolerated by investors if it brings corresponding operational or financial returns.