---
title: "Hyperscaler capex roundup: September 2026"
canonical: "https://supercyclehq.com/blog/reports/hyperscaler-capex-september-2026"
type: "article"
dataAsOf: "2026-09-13"
description: "Seven AI builders spent $657B on capex over the last four quarters. The table, the 2026 guidance, what changed since the Q2 earnings round, and the power deals behind it."
author: "Supercycle Research AI"
aiGenerated: true
published: "2026-09-16"
updated: "2026-09-16"
tickers: ["AMZN", "MSFT", "GOOGL", "META", "ORCL", "CRWV", "NBIS", "NVDA", "CIFR", "AEP", "BE"]
license: "Free to use and quote with attribution to supercyclehq.com. Do not redistribute as a dataset."
disclaimer: "Informational only, not investment advice. The AI Exposure Score is Supercycle's editorial opinion. Agent portfolios are simulated paper portfolios run by AI."
---

# Hyperscaler capex roundup: September 2026

Written by Supercycle Research AI, an AI research desk (how it's made: https://supercyclehq.com/how-supercycle-is-made). Published 2026-09-16, updated 2026-09-16.

Seven companies at the center of the AI buildout spent $657 billion on [capital expenditure](https://supercyclehq.com/learn/hyperscaler-capex) over their last four reported quarters, and $214 billion in the most recent quarter alone, on the figures in Supercycle's [buildout tracker](https://supercyclehq.com/buildout) as of September 13, 2026. Every company in the table raised or held its guidance in the latest round. None cut.

The number that matters more than the total is the shape of it. Four companies, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta, account for $543 billion of the $657 billion, and they fund it from operating cash flow. The other three fund a growing share of theirs with debt or with customer prepayments, which is the part of the buildout that can stop faster than it started.

## Capex by company, last reported quarter

| Company | Latest quarter | Quarter capex | Trailing four quarters | Change on a year ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Amazon](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/amazon) | Q2 2026 | $53.1B | $173.0B | +68% |
| [Microsoft](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/microsoft) | FY26 Q4 (June) | $41.0B | $145.3B | +69% |
| [Alphabet](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/alphabet) | Q2 2026 | $44.9B | $132.4B | +100% |
| [Meta Platforms](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/meta-platforms) | Q2 2026 | $31.1B | $92.4B | +83% |
| [Oracle](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/oracle) | FY27 Q1 (August) | $28.5B | $75.7B | +235% |
| [CoreWeave](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/coreweave) | Q2 2026 | $9.4B | $27.2B | +224% |
| [Nebius Group](https://supercyclehq.com/stock/nebius-group) | Q2 2026 | $5.7B | $11.1B | +1,008% |
| Total | | $213.7B | $657.1B | |

Basis notes: Microsoft and Meta figures include finance leases, the way each company reports them. Oracle's are gross capex before customer prepayments; its net cash capex for the quarter was $18 billion. Amazon's quarter is its headline cash capex. Year-on-year compares the latest quarter with the same quarter a year earlier. Each row on the [tracker](https://supercyclehq.com/buildout) links to the filing or call it came from.

## 2026 guidance

| Company | Guidance | Direction at last update |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | About $220B for 2026, citing AI demand and higher memory prices | Raised |
| Microsoft | FY27 Q1 above $50B; full fiscal 2027 to grow year on year | Raised |
| Alphabet | $195B to $205B for 2026; expects a significant increase again in 2027 | Raised |
| Meta Platforms | $130B to $145B for 2026, including finance lease principal payments | Floor raised from $125B |
| Oracle | Up to about $95B gross for fiscal 2027; net cash capex not to exceed $70B after prepayments | Reiterated |
| CoreWeave | $35B to $39B for 2026; Q3 between $11.5B and $13.5B | Raised |
| Nebius Group | $20B to $25B for 2026; contracted power target raised to 5 GW by year end | Reaffirmed |

The five companies that guide on the calendar year add up to between $600 billion and $634 billion for 2026, before Microsoft and Oracle, which guide on fiscal years ending in June and May.

## Five things in the numbers

1. **Alphabet doubled.** Its quarter was twice the same quarter a year ago, the steepest increase among the four hyperscalers, and Q2 2026 was the company's first quarter of negative free cash flow since it listed. The 2026 range was raised to $195 billion to $205 billion, with a further significant increase flagged for 2027.

2. **Oracle's gross and net numbers are $25 billion apart.** Gross capex of up to $95 billion in fiscal 2027 becomes net cash capex of no more than $70 billion after customer prepayments. Customers are pre-funding the data centers they will rent. That is a new way to pay for a buildout, and the gap between the two figures is the size of it. Oracle also said it delivered 850 megawatts of new AI data center capacity and over 300,000 GPUs in the quarter.

3. **The neoclouds are a rounding error on the total and the fastest-growing line in it.** CoreWeave and Nebius together spent $38 billion over four quarters, under 6 percent of the table. CoreWeave's guided Q3 of $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion would be its largest quarter yet, and Nebius's growth rate is off a base of half a billion dollars in the year-ago quarter. Both fund the spend with debt secured on the chips, covered in [What is a neocloud?](https://supercyclehq.com/blog/explainers/what-is-a-neocloud).

4. **Memory prices are now in the guidance.** Amazon named higher memory prices as a reason its 2026 number went to about $220 billion. Capex rising because components cost more is different from capex rising because more is being built, and the memory makers in the [semiconductors layer](https://supercyclehq.com/category/semiconductors) are the ones being paid for the difference.

5. **Nobody cut.** Seven companies, seven raises, reaffirmations or reiterations. The last round produced no reduction in any 2026 number. The next round, in late October, is the first since Amazon put memory prices into its guidance.

## What changed since the Q2 earnings round

The tracker logs every change to a row. Between August 12 and September 13, 2026:

- **Oracle reported fiscal 2027 Q1** on September 10, moved its latest-quarter capex to $28.5 billion and reiterated the fiscal 2027 range. The wording changed from a $70 billion net outlay with $20 billion to $25 billion of prepayments to a $70 billion ceiling on net cash capex. Same numbers, firmer cap.
- **Two tracked campuses gained named tenants.** Stargate Norway at Narvik now lists Microsoft as tenant with NVIDIA on chips, and Reliance's Jamnagar campus in Gujarat lists Meta alongside NVIDIA. A named tenant is the difference between a planned megawatt and a funded one.
- **Three projects were added.** Cipher Mining's Colchis site in Tom Green County, Texas, a 1 gigawatt project targeted for 2028 with AEP as the linked utility. Compute Nordic Finland's 165 megawatt hall in Mikkeli, under construction, with Cerebras as tenant. And a 200 megawatt campus in Egypt backed by Vodafone, Elsewedy and Cassava, starting at 20 megawatts.
- **No capex row other than Oracle's changed.** The other six companies do not report again until late October at the earliest.

## Power deals signed this month

| Date | Buyer | Supplier | Capacity | Technology | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | Google | MN8 Energy, with Eos storage | 86 MW | Solar plus storage, West Virginia | 2028, storage 2029 to 2030 |
| Sep 1 | Google | Fervo Energy | 396 MW, option to about 1 GW | Enhanced geothermal, Utah | 2028 |
| Aug 28 | Amazon | OX2 and Mirova | 199 MW | Onshore wind, Sweden | Three farms already operating |
| Aug 18 | QTS Data Centers | ENGIE | 48 MW | Solar, Texas | 2028 |
| Aug 12 | Nebius Group | Bloom Energy | 328 MW | On-site fuel cells, New Jersey | Not stated |

Two of the five are on-site or firm generation rather than grid contracts: Nebius's fuel cells and, in effect, Google's geothermal, which runs around the clock. The Fervo deal is the largest enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement signed to date, by Fervo's own account, and its expansion option to nearly a gigawatt by mid-2030 is a data center sized commitment. The full list, with 47 deals and the letter-of-intent ones marked, is on the [tracker](https://supercyclehq.com/buildout).

## What is next

The Q3 earnings round starts in late October with Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, then Amazon. CoreWeave and Nebius report in mid-November, Oracle in mid-December. The October issue of this roundup will carry whatever changes by its data date, and a full rebuild follows the round.

Three things to read in those calls. Whether Alphabet's 2027 "significant increase" gets a number. Whether Oracle's net capex ceiling holds now that prepayments are a stated part of the model. And whether any of the four hyperscalers mentions memory prices the way Amazon did, because a second mention makes it a sector cost, not a company one.

## FAQ

### What counts as hyperscaler capex?

Capital expenditure is what a company spends on long-lived assets. For the AI builders that means land, data center shells, power and cooling, and above all servers and GPUs. This roundup tracks the four hyperscalers, Oracle, and the two largest listed neoclouds on the basis each company reports.

### Why does capex matter for AI stocks?

Capex is the revenue of the layer below. Every dollar the hyperscalers spend on servers is a sale for NVIDIA, the memory makers, the networking and optics suppliers, the server assemblers and the power equipment firms. Guidance changes move those stocks before the spending shows up in anyone's income statement.

### Are the figures cash capex or do they include leases?

It varies, and the table says which. Microsoft and Meta report a figure that includes finance leases, and this roundup uses their basis. Oracle reports gross capex before customer prepayments. Amazon's headline number is cash capex. Comparing across companies is approximate; comparing one company with its own prior quarter is exact.

### How often is this updated?

Monthly, after the buildout tracker's data refresh, with a full rebuild after each quarterly earnings round. The next earnings round runs from late October (Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon) to mid-November (CoreWeave, Nebius) and mid-December (Oracle).

## Sources

- [CNBC, Amazon Q2 2026 results, July 30, 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/30/amazon-amzn-q2-earnings-report-2026.html)
- [Microsoft, FY26 Q4 press release and webcast, July 29, 2026](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/earnings/fy-2026-q4/press-release-webcast)
- [CNBC, Alphabet Q2 2026 results, July 22, 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/google-earnings-q2-goog-live-updates.html)
- [Meta Platforms, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, July 29, 2026](https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2026/q2/META-Q2-2026-Earnings-Call-Transcript.pdf)
- [CNBC, Oracle fiscal 2027 Q1 results, September 10, 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/10/oracle-orcl-q1-earnings-report-2027.html)
- [CoreWeave, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, August 11, 2026](https://s205.q4cdn.com/133937190/files/doc_financials/2026/q2/CRWV-US-CORRECTED-TRANSCRIPT-CoreWeave-Q2-2026-Earnings-Call-11August2026.pdf)
- [Nebius Group, Q2 2026 shareholder letter, August 12, 2026](https://assets.nebius.com/assets/a6ecfd85-a6cb-4967-8ef7-9a25bd261f9c/SHLQ226.pdf)
- [Fervo Energy, 396 MW power purchase agreement with Google, September 1, 2026](https://ir.fervoenergy.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fervo-energy-and-google-sign-396-mw-ppa)
- [GlobeNewswire, MN8 Energy, Google and Eos Energy in West Virginia, September 2, 2026](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/02/3355060/0/en/mn8-energy-google-and-eos-energy-enterprises-bring-advanced-clean-energy-solutions-to-west-virginia.html)
- [Data Center Dynamics, Amazon signs 199 MW of Swedish wind PPAs, August 28, 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/amazon-signs-199mw-worth-of-ppas-across-sweden-with-ox2-and-mirova/)
- [Data Center Dynamics, QTS signs 48 MW solar PPA with ENGIE, August 18, 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/qts-signs-48mw-solar-ppa-with-engie-in-irving-texas/)
- [Cerebras and Compute Nordic Finland, 165 MW AI data center in Mikkeli, August 31, 2026](https://investors.cerebras.ai/news-releases/news-release-details/cerebras-and-compute-nordic-finland-announce-new-165-mw-ai-data)
- [TechAfrica News, Egypt data center with Vodafone, Elsewedy and Cassava, September 8, 2026](https://techafricanews.com/2026/09/08/egypt-vodafone-elsewedy-cassava-1bn-data-centre/)
- [MarketScreener, Cipher Mining forms joint entity for 1 GW West Texas site, November 3, 2025](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/cipher-mining-inc-announces-formation-of-joint-entity-to-develop-1-gigawatt-site-in-west-texas-ce7d5cd9dc8ef625)

---

Source: https://supercyclehq.com/blog/reports/hyperscaler-capex-september-2026. Data as of 2026-09-13. Prices are end-of-day closes, never live.

Informational only, not investment advice. The AI Exposure Score is Supercycle's editorial opinion. Agent portfolios are simulated paper portfolios run by AI.

Free to use and quote with attribution to supercyclehq.com. Do not redistribute as a dataset.