Big Tech’s $635 billion AI spending faces energy shock test, S&P Global says

Massive investments in artificial intelligence that underpinned record runs in equities face a major hurdle as the Middle East crisis clouds prospects for growth and energy costs, said Melissa Otto, head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha.

Before the Iran war broke out, ‌tech giants ⁠Microsoft, Amazon, ⁠Alphaband Meta planned to spend about $635 billion on data centres, chips, and other AI infrastructure in 2026, S&P Global has said.

That figure was up from $383 billion the prior year and just $80 billion in 2019.