The four major US hyperscalers (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft) are projected to spend $700 billion in capex this year and over $800 billion next year, with total AI-related capex, including neo-clouds, estimated to surpass $1 trillion in 2027. This aggressive spending is expected to push capex as a percentage of operating cash flow to 92% in 2026, up from 41% in 2023, leading to $144 billion in bond issuance year-to-date 2026. AI-related capex alone contributed 1.13 percentage points (42%) to US real GDP growth in Q1 2026.
Hyperscalers are financing massive AI infrastructure buildouts through debt, shifting capital allocation from cash flow to bond markets to sustain compute expansion.