Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft spending more on AI in 2026 than India will spend on entire country

Whether AI is a boom or bust is something we don't know yet. But what has become clear is that tech companies are going all in on AI. Only four of them — Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft — are set to spend nearly $650 billion on AI in 2026. It is almost as much as the Indian government will spend on the entire country this year!

A few days ago, the Indian government presented its annual budget for the financial year 2026-27. The central government pegged its total expenditure for the entire country at around $670 billion. Fast forward a few days and there is an astounding figure floating around in the tech world. The figure is $650 billion, according to Bloomberg. It is the money that just a handful of tech companies are expected to spend on developing AI and related infrastructure in 2026. Four tech companies, which are Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft, are expected to spend nearly as much on AI as our central government will spend on the entire country.

And these are planned figures. Chances are that, just the way we have seen in the last few years, the tech companies will end up spending more than what they have budgeted. Though on that note, we can also say that India might — as it usually happens — end up spending a little more than it has budgeted.

Still the 2026 capex figures for AI and related infrastructure are mind bogglingly big. As the tech companies have declared their financial results, they have also indicated their upcoming expenses. Google a few days ago said that its expenditure for 2026 would be around $185 billion. A few days later, Amazon revealed its own figure — $200 billion. Meta had a few weeks ago pegged its expenditure at around $135 billion, whereas industry buzz is that the figure for Microsoft is expected to be around $120 billion.

A large amount of this money is aimed squarely at creating AI infrastructure, including massive data centres, high-end servers, networking equipment and specialised chips that power everything from chatbots and image generators to enterprise AI tools.

So far, it seems that Amazon is expected to be the biggest spender. The company has told investors that its capital expenditure could reach around $200 billion in 2026, driven mainly by rising demand for AI capacity on its AWS cloud platform. Alphabet is not far behind. Google’s parent has indicated that its spending could climb to between $175 billion and $185 billion, with AI and cloud infrastructure sitting at the core of its plans.

Microsoft and Meta are also committing vast sums to secure computing power for their AI ambitions. Meta has said it expects capital spending of $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026. Microsoft, meanwhile, has already shown how quickly its investment is rising. Last week, the company reported a 66 per cent jump in capital expenditure for the second quarter, beating market expectations. Analysts now estimate Microsoft’s total capex could approach $120 billion for the fiscal year ending in June.