The four tech giants, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon, have reported their quarterly earnings, revealing they are on track to meet their artificial intelligence spending targets for the year. According to their earnings reports, these companies are expected to spend approximately $650 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026.
Although most of them did not provide a detailed breakdown of their AI spending, their continued investment in the sector is evident. This significant investment has substantial implications for the digital asset sector, particularly for bitcoin miners who are increasingly shifting their focus from mining to hosting computers for AI as part of their revenue diversification strategy. The miners already have the necessary infrastructure in place to support the massive computational power required for AI. As bitcoin prices decline and competition increases, miners are now leveraging their data centers to host AI operations, thereby diversifying their revenue streams.
Stocks related to AI and bitcoin mining, such as IREN, WULF, and CIFR, experienced minor fluctuations following the earnings reports. The tech giants' performance in after-hours trading was mixed, with Microsoft down 2.4%, Alphabet up 6%, Meta down 6.6%, and Amazon down 3.7%. Bitcoin also experienced a minor decline of 0.9% over the last 24 hours.
The upcoming earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia on May 20 is expected to be a significant test of overall market sentiment and miners' performance. In their earnings reports, the tech giants highlighted their focus on AI as a core driver of growth. Microsoft reported a 123% year-over-year increase in its AI business, with revenue of $37 billion. Alphabet's CEO emphasized the company's AI investments and full-stack approach, which are driving growth across the business.
Google Cloud revenue rose 63% to $20 billion, fueled by enterprise AI solutions and infrastructure. Amazon reported a significant increase in infrastructure spending, primarily driven by investments in artificial intelligence. Meta also pointed to rising AI infrastructure costs as a key driver of spending and raised its full-year capital expenditure outlook to $125-145 billion.
The company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, framed the push as a 'milestone quarter' tied to AI progress, with the goal of delivering 'personal superintelligence' to billions of people.