Meta, Microsoft Test Investors With AI-Fueled Spending Surge (1)

The largest technology companies are betting on an AI future powered by gigantic data centers filled with humming servers.

Now that the staggering cost of this push is coming into sharper focus, it’s testing nerves on Wall Street.

Three bellwethers from different corners of the technology world – Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — together racked up some $78 billion in capital expenditures last quarter. That’s up 89% from a year earlier.

Most of that cash was destined for data center construction and graphics processing units and other gear to fill them. Each increased their forecasts ...