The Kaipher Editorial Team 
Technology titans are directing an unprecedented $368 billion into artificial intelligence infrastructure this year, dramatically altering investment priorities and reshaping returns for semiconductor and cloud providers. U.S. data center construction spending reached $40 billion at an annual rate in June—a 40% year-over-year surge—driven largely by the “Magnificent Seven”: Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla (Business Insider).
This wave of AI-driven capital expenditure underscores a strategic shift from share buybacks to capacity builds: S&P 500 companies reported 24% growth in capex during Q2, while buybacks fell 1%, as hyperscalers race to secure chip supply and expand cloud capacity for inference workloads.
Oracle’s Record AI Backlog Fuels Capex Surge
Oracle stunned markets by revealing a $455 billion remaining performance obligation backlog—up 359% year-over-year—anchored by multibillion-dollar AI and cloud contracts, including a reported $300 billion, five-year pact with OpenAI starting in 2027 (Reuters).
The database giant plans $35 billion in capital spending for fiscal 2026, more than tripling its quarterly outlays to $8.5 billion, with most directed toward revenue-generating data center equipment. Oracle projects its cloud infrastructure revenue to soar from $18 billion this year to $144 billion by 2030, reflecting its growing role as an AI infrastructure provider.
Nvidia Unveils Next-Gen AI Hardware Amid Boom
Nvidia this week introduced the Vera Rubin NVL144 CPX platform, designed for million-token AI workloads and generative video, delivering 8 exaflops of performance and 100 TB of memory per rack—7.5× more than its predecessors (Reuters).
The chipmaker’s stock jumped nearly 4% on the announcement, buoyed by forecasts that a $100 million investment in Rubin CPX systems could yield up to $5 billion in downstream AI application revenues. Nvidia aims to bring Rubin CPX to market by late 2026, cementing its position at the heart of AI compute expansion.
Magnificent Seven Drive AI Infrastructure Wave
Beyond Oracle and Nvidia, Microsoft raised its fiscal 2025 capex forecast to $88.7 billion (from $80 billion) while Meta plans $66–72 billion in infrastructure spending. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are collectively on track to invest $364 billion in AI infrastructure this year, accounting for the bulk of the $368 billion total.
Brookfield Asset Management projects that global AI infrastructure investment will hit $7 trillion over the next decade—$4 trillion for chips, $2 trillion for data centers, and $500 billion each for power transmission and ancillary technologies—driving a 165% increase in data center power demand by 2030 (Brookfield via RCR Wireless). This long-term outlook underscores the pivotal role of AI in shaping the next era of corporate technology strategy.
