Hyperscaler AI Capex Tops $500 Billion Even as Burry Shorts the Chip Trade

Gotrade News - The three biggest US hyperscalers are set to push combined 2026 AI capex past $500 billion, a spending wave that has propelled Nvidia to record revenue even as one prominent investor bets the AI-chip trade has run too far. According to The Motley Fool, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta together plan to spend more than $500 billion building out AI infrastructure this year. On the other side of the trade, Michael Burry's Scion Asset Management disclosed a short position against the iShares Semiconductor ETF as of June 30, 2026, reviving the debate over whether the AI buildout is a durable capex boom or an inflating bubble.

Key Takeaways

• Combined 2026 AI capex across Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta tops $500 billion, with Microsoft adding roughly $190 billion separately.
• Nvidia data-center revenue grew 92% year-over-year to $75.2 billion, and total revenue rose 85% to a record $81.6 billion.
• Michael Burry's Scion is short the SOXX semiconductor ETF, arguing chip valuations have run far ahead of the big-tech firms funding them.
• Meta's move to sell excess compute knocked neocloud names CoreWeave and Nebius sharply lower.

Hyperscaler Capex Tops $500 Billion

The scale of the spending is unprecedented. As reported by The Motley Fool, Alphabet (GOOGL) now guides to roughly $195 billion to $205 billion in capex, raised from an earlier $180 billion to $190 billion range, while Amazon (AMZN) guides to about $200 billion and Meta Platforms (META) to between $125 billion and $145 billion. Microsoft is spending a separate roughly $190 billion. Alphabet said about 60% of its Q2 technical-infrastructure investment went to servers, and its cloud revenue grew 82% year-over-year in the quarter.

The demand appears to be landing squarely on NVIDIA (NVDA). Nvidia data-center revenue grew 92% year-over-year to $75.2 billion, total revenue rose 85% year-over-year to a record $81.6 billion, and the company guided to about $91 billion next quarter. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang framed the moment in sweeping terms, saying that "the buildout of AI factories, the largest infrastructure expansion in human history, is accelerating at extraordinary speed." Despite the run, Nvidia trades at 32 times trailing and 21 times forward earnings.

Amazon could add to the tally soon. Per The Motley Fool, the company reports earnings on July 30 after the close, and analysts predict CEO Andy Jassy raises the full-year 2026 capex guide from its current $200 billion. Jassy has argued the spending is backed by demand, saying the company "already have customer commitments for a substantial portion of it."

Michael Burry Bets Against the Chip Trade

Not everyone is convinced the math works. As reported by The Motley Fool, Michael Burry's Scion Asset Management was short the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) as of June 30, 2026, a fund whose top holdings include Micron (MU), AMD, Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and Intel (INTC). Burry's thesis is that semiconductor valuations have run far ahead of their big-tech customers, with SOXX carrying a price-to-earnings ratio of about 74.3 versus 31.7 for the Nasdaq-100. He argues the companies spending the most on chips "aren't performing as well as the semiconductor companies they're funding." A UBS survey cited in the same report indicated that roughly 60% of businesses are reducing their AI expenditures, a data point the bear case leans on to question whether current spending can hold.

Meta's Neocloud Gambit Rattles CoreWeave and Nebius

A newer wrinkle complicates both cases. According to The Motley Fool, Meta is reportedly building its own cloud business to sell excess AI compute. The company has signed a $21 billion expanded deal with CoreWeave, bringing total commitments to $35 billion, struck a Nebius deal worth up to $27 billion over five years in March, and is in talks to lease up to $10 billion of compute to Anthropic over two years. On the news that Meta may compete for their customers, CoreWeave (CRWV) fell 11.58% and Nebius (NBIS) fell 15.02%, a reminder that the same capex boom feeding the bull case can also reshape which players capture the returns.

Sources

• Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Will Spend Over $500 Billion on AI in 2026 (The Motley Fool)
• Prediction: Andy Jassy Will Raise Amazon's Full-Year 2026 Capex Guide on July 30 (The Motley Fool)
• Should Nebius and CoreWeave Investors Be Worried About Meta's Latest AI Infrastructure Plans? (The Motley Fool)
• Michael Burry Just Revealed His Next Big Short, and It's a Bet Against Nvidia, Micron, and AMD (The Motley Fool)