Alphabet (GOOGL, Financials), which owns Google and is a key provider of search, advertising and cloud services, will report profits as investors take a closer look at the expense of Big Tech's artificial intelligence buildout.
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Oracle are projected to spend more on capital expenditures than they generate in free cash flow by 2027, according to LSEG estimates seen by Reuters.
Together, they are expected to generate an additional $340 billion of operating cash flow from 2025 through 2027. Capital spending, meanwhile, might rise by nearly $534 billion.
This translates to around $1.57 of new investment for every extra dollar of operating cash flow. Capital investment expectations for the five corporations this year have already increased to around $730 billion in July from about $485 billion in January.
There are signs of progress . Microsoft said its AI business is on a $37 billion annual revenue run rate and Amazon said AWS grew 28%.
Still, the spending burden is getting harder to ignore. Oracle's capital spending was 174% of operating cash flow in fiscal 2026.
Now, investors will be looking to see if Alphabet can demonstrate that quicker cloud and AI growth is translating into higher margins and cash production.