The $665 billion question: Will Big Tech’s AI gamble pay off?

In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady crunches the numbers from yesterday’s tech earnings bonanza.

The big leadership story: Starbucks’ turnaround is starting to take hold.

The markets: Down as oil hits a four-year high.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. And you thought the dollar figures being tossed around by the big banks this quarter were impressive? Prepare to be blown away by the budgets of Big Tech. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft all reported earnings yesterday, collectively estimating they will invest up to $665 billion in AI this year, almost 75% more than the $381 billion they spent in 2025. Some takeaways:

Spending is still surging. Banks profited nicely this quarter from investors trading like frenzied night-clubbers wondering if the party’s about to end. Now it’s the tech bros that are flashing Benjamins. (Fun fact: it would take a 413-mile stack of $100 bills to fund that $665-billion capital expenditure budget—according to my agent.) And the projected return on that investment? Good question. My colleague Shawn Tully points out that the expensive hardware fueling AI goes obsolete at lightning speed. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar reportedly wants more discipline over spending at her company, which is careening towards a trillion-dollar valuation with nary a penny of profit in sight.

Cloud is king. Amazon traded........

© Fortune