What is "AI" Cap-Ex Doing?

Thursday, Feb 26, 2026 4:36 pm ET1min read
NVDA--
Aime RobotAime Summary

- Hyper-scalers are boosting AI infrastructureAIIA-- investments, including NVIDIANVDA-- GPUs and data centers.

- This surge in Cap-Ex drives demand for advanced computing resources and talent.

- AI expansion may impact U.S. job growth and economic dynamics through automation and efficiency gains.

- Tech giants like AmazonAMZN--, MicrosoftMSFT--, and OracleORCL-- are key players in this AI-driven capital spending trend.

Hyper-scaler capital expenditure (Cap-Ex) has experienced an unprecedented surge, driven by massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, including data centers, servers, and, most notably, NVIDIANVDA-- GPUs. Here with more on this is our Chief Equity Strategist and Economist, John Blank.

1. For those who don’t know, what is scaling in “AI” models?

2. What’s the benefit of this and to whom?

3. Does this relate directly or indirectly to the data centers being built around the country?

4. So, did “AI” cap-ex, over the last year or two, contribute to the slack U.S. job growth seen, across all 12 months of 2025? If so, how?

5. How might this impact the labor force going forward?

6. What’s the impact to the overall U.S. economy?

7. Is there any impact to the global economy?

8. Let’s take a look at a few of the stocks associated with what we’ve been discussing, namely Amazon AMZN, Microsoft MSFT and Oracle ORCL.

Our Chief Equity Strategist & Economist, John Blank, on scaling in AI Models.

With John, I’m Terry Ruffolo.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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