Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Load Up on Spending as Apple Trims 20%

Big Tech's spending spree keeps getting bigger — with one loud exception. Since the first quarter of 2023, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta have grown their capital spending to 5–8 times what it was, according to a16z. Apple went the other way, cutting its spending by 20% over the same stretch.

The figures landed via Cointelegraph, which flagged the a16z analysis on X. The takeaway is a clean split: four companies opening the wallet wide, one tightening the belt.

Capital spending covers the long-term stuff a company buys and builds — hardware, facilities and the infrastructure behind its products. In this case, the multipliers alone tell the story; the post didn't break out dollar amounts.

Apple's 20% pullback stands alone against a group that is now spending multiples of its early-2023 baseline. That gap is the number to watch as the next round of quarterly updates rolls in.

For now, the headline is simple arithmetic: four up by a factor of five or more, one down by a fifth, all measured from the same starting line.