Big Tech Reveals AI Spending, Wall Street Wants Proof
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- Alphabet reported negative free cash flow for the first time ever as a public company on $118B in quarterly revenue, with Google's AI spending outpacing what its AI tools bring in.
- Meta saw free cash flow collapse to just $784M on $61B in revenue, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans for an autonomous AI agent and a B2B AI sales tool with no timeline — sending shares to their second-lowest level in a year.
- Meta is now likely to pour more than $140B into AI this year alone, and its Reality Labs division lost nearly $9B in the first half of 2025.
- Microsoft matched last year's $190B AI spend and saw shares hit a six-month high, with Forrester analyst Tracy Woo saying the company's massive AI investments were 'beginning to deliver returns.'
- Amazon plans to spend $220B on AI this year, yet its stock hit a two-month high thanks to strength in its other businesses — mirroring Microsoft's pattern of rewarding AI spending with revenue growth elsewhere.
- Google told investors that 950 million people now use its Gemini chatbot at least once a month — triple the number from a year ago.
- Apple warned that iPhone, Mac, and iPad sales will slow because it cannot source enough microchips to meet demand, while outgoing CEO Tim Cook said the company plans to charge heavy users of its Gemini-powered Siri overhaul — Cook said Apple is 'off-the-charts excited' about the new Siri.
Why it matters: Microsoft hit a six-month high while matching last year's $190B AI spend; Meta plunged to its second-lowest level in a year while raising its AI budget past $140B — proof that Wall Street now distinguishes between AI spending paired with revenue growth and AI spending paired with vague future promises. With 950 million Gemini users and Apple already planning to monetize a Gemini-powered Siri, the paths to AI revenue are finally crystallizing after three years of spending.
