Big Tech Capital Spending as Filed: Five Companies' Latest Quarter Against the Year Before
The companies that buy most of the world's AI servers and data centers report that spending in their filings as one line, purchases of property and equipment. This feature sets the latest quarter against the year before for five of them, exactly as filed, and notes where their definitions differ.
Purchases of property and equipment, latest filed quarter $ millions
As filed Three months ended Sep 30, 2026, except Oracle (three months ended Aug 31, 2026). Cash flow statement lines; definitions differ, see the notes below.
As of (latest filings: Amazon Oct 30, Alphabet Oct 29, Microsoft Oct 28, Meta Oct 22, Oracle Sep 11, 2026)Amounts as filed by the company
| Company | Three months | Latest ($M) | Year earlier ($M) | Change (computed) | Finance lease principal paid, latest (year earlier) ($M) | Stated 2026 outlook | Figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Jul 1 to Sep 30, 2026 | 77,25912 | 35,095 | +120% | 433 (351) | Cash capital expenditures expected to be approximately $220 billion in 202623 | As filed |
| Alphabet | Jul 1 to Sep 30, 2026 | 51,35545 | 23,953 | +114% | 1,110 (92) | “Significantly increase” investment in technical infrastructure in 2026 relative to 2025; no figure given4 | As filed |
| Microsoft | Jul 1 to Sep 30, 2026 (fiscal Q1 2027) | 39,3676 | 19,394 | +103% | 1,000 (639) | Capital expenditures to continue to support cloud growth and AI training and other infrastructure; no figure given6 | As filed |
| Meta | Jul 1 to Sep 30, 2026 | 33,9427 | 18,829 | +80% | 964 (545) | $135 to $145 billion in 2026, including principal payments on finance leases7 | As filed |
| Oracle | Jun 1 to Aug 31, 2026 (fiscal Q1 2027) | 28,4998 | 8,502 | +235% | Not read | Not read | As filed |
Rows follow the latest-quarter figure and are not summed: the companies' definitions and periods differ (see below). “Latest” and “year earlier” are each company's three-month cash flow figures, read from its filing's own columns. “Change (computed)” is our own division of the two filed numbers, rounded to a whole percent. Oracle's finance lease and outlook figures were not part of the filings read. Figure labels: how they work.
What the filings say
What the line is, and is not
The figure is the cash-flow-statement line for purchases of property and equipment (Microsoft calls it "additions to property and equipment"). None of the five splits it into AI and other spending. They describe the purpose in words: Amazon says the year-over-year increase in purchases, net of proceeds from sales and incentives, "primarily reflects investments in artificial intelligence";2 Alphabet says its capital expenditures "primarily reflected investments in technical infrastructure";5 Meta says it invested in "servers, data centers, and network infrastructure";7 and Microsoft says it will "continue to invest in capital expenditures to support growth in our cloud offerings and our investments in AI training and other infrastructure".6 So this post reports capital spending as filed, and the AI share is not a filed number.
The latest quarter against the year before
Amazon's purchases were $77,259 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, against $35,095 million a year earlier.12 Alphabet's were $51,355 million against $23,953 million, and the company puts the figure at $51.4 billion in its 10-Q.45 Microsoft's fiscal first quarter, July to September 2026, shows $39,367 million against $19,394 million.6 Meta's were $33,942 million against $18,829 million.7 Oracle's fiscal first quarter ended August 31, 2026 and reports $28,499 million against $8,502 million for the quarter ended August 31, 2025.8 Because Oracle's quarter ends a month earlier, its figure is not the same calendar quarter as the other four.
Nine months, where filed
For the nine months ended September 30, 2026, Amazon's purchases were $175,670 million against $92,297 million in 2025;2 Alphabet's were $131,953 million against $63,596 million;4 and Meta's were $83,055 million against $48,308 million.7 Amazon, Alphabet and Meta present these as filed year-to-date columns; Microsoft and Oracle's fiscal years start in July and June, so their year-to-date figures are the quarters above.
Definitions differ
Meta's headline capital expenditures, "including principal payments on finance leases", were $34.91 billion for the quarter, while its purchases of property and equipment were $33,942 million and its finance lease principal payments $964 million.7 Its 2026 outlook of $135 billion to $145 billion uses the including-leases definition.7 Amazon's outlook is for "cash capital expenditures" of approximately $220 billion, and its own free cash flow measure uses purchases net of proceeds from sales and incentives, which were $115,903 million for the twelve months to September 2025 against $210,657 million for the twelve months to September 2026.23 Spending can also be incurred before it is paid: Alphabet's accrued purchases of property and equipment were $21,398 million at September 30, 2026 against $8,877 million at December 31, 2025,4 Microsoft's purchases remaining in accounts payable were $26.5 billion at September 30, 2026,6 and Amazon reports $21,473 million of property and equipment acquired but not yet paid for the nine months to September 2026.2 Cash purchases therefore lag the assets a company has committed to.
Finance leases are a separate line
Principal payments on finance leases are filed apart from purchases: Microsoft $1,000 million (year earlier $639 million), Alphabet $1,110 million ($92 million), Meta $964 million ($545 million) and Amazon $433 million ($351 million) for the latest quarter, as tagged in each company's financial statements.2467 They are shown in their own column and are not added to the purchases figure.
What is outside this post
The table is a snapshot of five companies' filed cash flow lines. It leaves out other buyers of AI infrastructure, operating leases and any spending that never passes through these lines, and it makes no statement about how much is for AI. For the data-center side of the same buildout, see Stargate’s Sites: Operating vs Under Construction vs Planned; for the compute a lab has committed to buy, see Anthropic’s Compute Commitments, as Filed in Its S-1.
Sources
- Amazon.com, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed with the SEC October 30, 2026 (condensed consolidated statements of cash flows, three-month columns), retrieved 2026-11-03.
- Amazon.com, third-quarter 2026 results press release (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, October 29, 2026), retrieved 2026-11-03.
- Amazon.com, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 (free cash flow reconciliation and 2026 outlook), retrieved 2026-11-03.
- Alphabet, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed October 29, 2026 (nine-month cash flow, accrued purchases, capital expenditures discussion), retrieved 2026-11-03; finance lease principal payments as tagged in its XBRL data on data.sec.gov.
- Alphabet, third-quarter 2026 results press release (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, October 28, 2026), retrieved 2026-11-03.
- Microsoft, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed October 28, 2026 (cash flows, liquidity discussion, accounts payable note), retrieved 2026-11-03; finance lease principal payments as tagged in its XBRL data on data.sec.gov.
- Meta Platforms, third-quarter 2026 results press release (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, October 21, 2026) and Form 10-Q filed October 22, 2026, retrieved 2026-11-03.
- Oracle, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended August 31, 2026, filed with the SEC September 11, 2026, purchases of property and equipment as tagged in its XBRL data on data.sec.gov, retrieved 2026-11-03.