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Motley Fool Money

The Hyperscalers Are Hyper-Spending

Jan 30, 2025
Asit Sharma, an investment analyst at The Motley Fool, joins to dissect the vast spending by Meta and Microsoft, both channeling around 30% of their revenues into capital expenditures. They explore how Meta’s ambitious data center projects could reshape its future and discuss the revolutionary DeepSeek's impact on AI investment perspectives. Sharma also highlights Microsoft’s booming $13 billion AI business and its 'fungible fleet' strategy, signaling profound shifts in tech company dynamics.
21:53

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Meta's significant increase in capital expenditures, particularly in AI development, underscores the urgent competitive pressure tech companies face to secure market share.
  • Microsoft's burgeoning AI business, now at a $13 billion annual run rate, highlights the potential for diversification and growth despite investor concerns about Azure's performance.

Deep dives

Meta's Major Investment in AI Infrastructure

Meta is significantly increasing its capital expenditures, planning to invest between $60 to $65 billion in building a large data center specifically for AI development. This investment is about 70 percent higher than analysts' expectations and reflects a broader trend where major tech companies like Meta and Microsoft spend around 30 percent of their annual revenues on capital expenditures. The perspective shared by industry experts highlights the urgency tech leaders feel in capturing market share and meeting future demand for AI services. However, there are risks associated with this level of investment, as any overbuilding without corresponding demand could become a financial burden in the form of depreciation impacting future earnings.

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