For Big Tech, a penny invested in AI is a penny earned... Maybe. After an indeterminate amount of time. Investors hope. On earnings calls last week , Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta reported more than $350 billion this year on capital expenditures , or longer-tail investments in a company’s future. All four told investors to expect the number to skyrocket even further next year: Microsoft said “higher,” Amazon an “increase,” Google a “significant increase,” and Meta “notably larger.” That