Microsoft Among Big Tech Spending $650 Billion on AI in 2026 Forecast
Bridgewater forecasts Big Tech will invest about $650 billion in AI infrastructure in 2026, with Microsoft among the primary spenders on data centers and AI chips. Investors have punished major tech stocks—excluding Apple—over AI capital intensity, while Michael Burry warns that elevated AI spending could compress profit margins.
1. Microsoft Among Top AI Investors
Bridgewater projects approximately $650 billion in AI infrastructure spending by major tech firms in 2026, with Microsoft slated to allocate a significant portion toward expanding Azure data centers and custom AI chip development for its Copilot and enterprise AI services.
2. Stock Reaction to AI Spending
Microsoft shares have underperformed some peers recently as investors express concern over high capital intensity in AI projects and uncertain timelines for return on investment, despite robust revenue growth in cloud services.
3. Burry's Warning on Profit Margins
Prominent investor Michael Burry cautioned that sustained elevated AI capital expenditures, including Microsoft's, could compress operating margins if revenue growth from AI applications does not materialize as expected.
4. HBM Supply Expansion for AI
SK Hynix chairman pledged to expand high-bandwidth memory (HBM) capacity to support surging AI demand, bolstering supply for Microsoft's GPU clusters and alleviating memory bottlenecks in Azure's AI infrastructure.