Amazon shares slide as $200 billion 2026 capex plan reignites worries about Big Tech’s AI spending returns

Amazon sinks after outlining a massive 2026 AI infrastructure spending plan, and the market starts asking the uncomfortable question again: when do we actually see the returns?

What happened

Amazon outlined roughly $200 billions of capital spending for 2026, a step-up that caught investors off guard and pushed the stock sharply lower.

This isn’t happening in isolation — Big Tech collectively is talking about more than $600 billion in AI and data-centre related investment, and Wall Street is getting more sensitive to the “capex now, profits later” trade.

Why the market cares

1. Margin pressure risk: More capex can mean lower free cash flow and tighter margins in the near term, even if r ...