AI Investing Glossary
What is a hyperscaler?
A hyperscaler is one of the handful of companies operating cloud and computing infrastructure at massive global scale, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta. In AI investing the term matters because hyperscaler capital spending, hundreds of billions of dollars a year, is the money funding most of the AI buildout.
Why it matters for AI investors
Hyperscalers sit on both sides of the AI trade: their spending pressures their own near-term margins while it becomes revenue for every supplier layer beneath them. Their quarterly capex guidance is the single most-watched indicator of where the AI cycle is heading, which is why the Buildout Tracker follows it line by line.
Tracked stocks in this layer
The largest names in the Cloud & Hyperscalers category, ranked by market cap:
Market data as of the close on . Prices are end of day, not live.
Related reading
- How to follow smart money with 13F filings · 13F filings show what Buffett, Druckenmiller and 20 other managers own each quarter. How to read one, what it hides, and how to use it without copying blind.
- Hyperscaler capex roundup: September 2026 · 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.
- What are AI infrastructure stocks? The 12 layers, explained · AI infrastructure stocks are the companies paid to build AI compute: chips, memory, networking, data centers, cooling and power. The 12 layers and the catch.
Frequently asked questions
Which companies count as hyperscalers?
The core group is Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, with Oracle increasingly included as its AI cloud commitments have grown. Some definitions add the large Chinese platforms. The common test is operating cloud or computing infrastructure at a scale measured in gigawatts and tens of billions of dollars of annual capital spending.
Related terms
See how this fits the whole picture in the Start Here guide, or browse the full glossary.