Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet beat Q1 revenue forecasts, but combined $650 billion 2026 capex guidance triggers tech selloff

Amazon reported first-quarter net sales of $181.5 billion, up 17% year over year, and guided second-quarter sales to between $194 billion and $199 billion. Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter revenue reached $82.89 billion, up 18% year over year. Meta posted $56.3 billion in revenue. Alphabet delivered $109.9 billion in revenue, with Google Cloud sales of $20 billion topping Wall Street estimates by nearly $2 billion.

Meta raised full-year 2026 capital spending guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion, citing higher component costs and added data center capacity for AI workloads. Combined 2026 capex across the four hyperscalers is on track to exceed $650 billion. Microsoft's AI business now runs at a $37 billion annualized revenue rate, up 123% year over year.

Meta dropped 6% after-hours and Microsoft slipped on AI buildout costs, as investors focused on payback timelines rather than revenue beats. Industry observers express concern that depreciation and operating costs will outpace near-term AI revenue contributions. Bitcoin's correlation with the Nasdaq 100 has climbed to 0.52 in 2025, with one analyst noting it hit 0.75 in January 2026, making it sensitive to tech-correlated risk sentiment.