The capex clock

Data Desk · Part 04Capex

The capex clock

Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta spent $165 billion on capital projects in three months. That is a pace you can watch.

As of Aug 4, 2026 · quarterly · published Aug 4, 2026 · read Sep 4, 2026 · implied · next release Oct 28, 2026

What the chart says. Quarterly spending is up almost fivefold in three years, and new borrowing now equals about a third of it. When the cash machines start borrowing to feed the machines, the cycle has changed character.

Source: Prof G Markets (quarterly capital spending, Aug 4, 2026); Hayden Capital (incremental debt as a share of capital spending). Earlier quarters are implied by the reported growth rates. The clock is DeepStack arithmetic at last quarter’s pace.

Show the data table
QuarterCapital spending
Same quarter, three years earlier (implied)$33.5B
Same quarter, a year earlier (implied)$88.2B
Latest quarter$165.0B
PeriodNew debt as share of capital spending
20249%
Last 12 months32%
Read Part 04: AI Spending Has Met Its First Real Bill

Spent by the four since you opened this page

$0

  1. Same quarter, three years earlierimplied$33.5B
  2. Same quarter, a year earlierimplied$88.2B
  3. Latest quarter$165B

Per day$1.81B

Per second$20,928

New debt as share of capex9% → 32%2024 → Last 12 months

At last quarter’s pace the four spend about $1.8 billion a day, or roughly $20,900 every second.