Q1 2026 Big Tech earnings: $650 billion in AI capex and compute constraints

This article was published on April 30, 2026 Google Cloud grew 63%, AWS 28%. Meta raised its full-year capex guide to $125-$145 billion, sending its shares down 6% after hours. Combined 2026 AI spending across five hyperscalers is now on track to exceed $650 billion. The question hanging over Wednesday’s earnings calls was whether the AI investment supercycle was producing commensurate returns, or whether the hyperscalers were building faster than demand could justify. The answers varied by company, but they were good enough to avoid a reckoning. Alphabet delivered $109.9 billion in revenue for Q1 2026, beating consensus by nearly $3 billion. The headline figure was Google Cloud, which grew 63% year on year to $20.02 billion, blowing past analyst estimates of $18.05 billion and accelerating sharply from the 48% growth it posted in Q4 2025. Net income came in at $62.57 billion, up 81% year on year, though that figure was significantly inflated by a $36.9 billion unrealised gain on equity securities. Capital expenditure reached $35.7 billion for the quarter, a 107% year-on-year increase, and the company raised its full-year capex guidance to $180-$190 billion, up from its prior $175-