S&P Global Market Intelligence says AI data-centre building has pushed company capital spending to historic highs. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle spent a combined $1.1 trillion over five years. Analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha point to trillions more through 2030. S&P analysts Liam Hynes and Drew Bowers call the group the Hyper 5. They name the main risk as a shift from cash to debt funding before returns appear. Measured against depreciation, spending intensity now exceeds dot-com and Great Recession peaks. Amazon's free cash flow turned negative in the year to 30 June. Meta's quarterly free cash flow fell sharply as capital spending rose. S&P says the leaders stay highly profitable but their cash cushion is shrinking. T.
What changed
Investors largely ignored rising hyperscaler capex earlier in the AI build-out.
- $1.1T capex over past five years
- $5.3T projected through 2030
- Amazon FCF negative $7.6B
- Meta Q2 FCF fell 91% to $784M
Sources