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The debate around AI spending is now much more practical as investors are no longer impressed by big spending plans alone. They want to see real returns. In the week before Alibaba Group’s (BABA) report, Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) $175 billion to $185 billion CapEx plan for 2026 put fresh attention on whether cloud revenue can justify that kind of spending.
Around the same time, big tech earnings showed the sharp split within the market. Alphabet jumped 10% after its results, while META Platforms (META) fell 8.5% and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) dropped 4%, proving that Wall Street now wants proof that AI spending can actually make money.