Cracks are emerging in the AI spending boom

Big Tech outlined more than $740 billion in capital spending this year, but investors are now questioning whether AI infrastructure outlays will ever pay off, as negative free cash flow and mounting debt replace earlier enthusiasm. On Friday the Nasdaq fell 2.9%, Nvidia dropped 4%, and Alphabet fell again after a record $500 billion market-value wipeout on Thursday; Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion in the third quarter with capex of $51.4 billion, Amazon reported negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion over twelve months, and Meta reported negative $2.1 billion in the quarter. It matters because a shift in market sentiment could tighten funding for the AI buildout, and the article notes it could complicate Anthropic's highly anticipated IPO, even though cloud demand itself remains strong.

• TechCrunch AI2026-10-30 21:17