In 2024, leading global tech companies made substantial investments into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, dedicating a combined total of £108 billion ($125 billion) toward the development and maintenance of AI data centres. This spending has focused primarily on building the necessary infrastructure to support AI applications, rather than on consumer-facing products, signaling a shift toward investing in the underlying tools that enable the AI industry’s rapid expansion.
According to a report by JP Morgan, this funding has been split between capital expenditures and operating costs. Microsoft emerged as the largest investor, with £37.1 billion ($46 billion) in total, of which £32.3 billion ($40 billion) was allocated to capital expenditures, particularly for GPUs, and £4.8 billion ($6 billion) was spent on operational costs related to AI training and inferencing. This aligns with Microsoft’s strong focus on expanding Azure’s AI capabilities, fueled by its partnership with OpenAI.
Google followed closely, investing £26.6 billion ($33 billion). Of this, £23.3 billion ($29 billion) was allocated to AI capital expenditures, with a significant portion directed toward GPU purchases. Google’s investments primarily support its AI-driven Google Search and cloud services. Meta also made significant investments, spending £21.7 billion ($27 billion), focusing heavily on AI tools for its social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Amazon, with £15.3 billion ($19 billion) in total investment, prioritized AI infrastructure to support its Amazon Web Services (AWS), which caters to businesses seeking AI solutions. Amazon’s capital expenditures accounted for £12.9 billion ($16 billion), while £2.4 billion ($3 billion) went to operating costs.
While these massive investments reflect the industry’s commitment to AI, they also highlight a broader trend. As of now, AI adoption remains relatively limited among workers. Only 4% of U.S. workers report using AI daily, while 67% say they never use AI. This indicates that while Big Tech is heavily investing in the foundational models of AI, the return on these investments will depend on a significant increase in AI adoption across industries.
Overall, this £108 billion spending spree underscores the growing importance of AI infrastructure and training, signaling a major shift in how Big Tech companies are positioning themselves for the future of AI. However, to turn these investments into profit, the pace of AI adoption among end users must accelerate substantially.
