AI Spending Delivers Mixed Results to Stocks | Bloomberg Tech 1/29/2026
Youtube·2026-01-29 21:15

Group 1: Market Reactions and Trends - The NASDAQ 100 experienced its worst day since November of the previous year, dropping by two percentage points, indicating significant market volatility [2] - Microsoft reported a capital expenditure (capex) of $1.5 billion beyond consensus, with a 38% growth in Azure, raising concerns about the sustainability of this growth amid increasing capex [4][5] - Meta's capex reached $135 billion, showing significant growth in its advertising business, which alleviated some market concerns about its AI spending [20][22] Group 2: Company-Specific Insights - Microsoft is focusing on two strategic priorities: the adoption of Microsoft Copilot and internal R&D, which are expected to drive long-term growth despite short-term fluctuations in Azure growth [7][9] - Meta's growth in the core business, aided by AI, is expected to sustain a healthy level of top-line growth, even if growth decelerates in the future [22][24] - Tesla announced ambitious plans for a chip factory to alleviate constraints in chip supply, with a projected capex of $20 billion this year, significantly higher than typical annual investments [31][32][35] Group 3: AI and Capital Expenditures - Concerns are rising about the relationship between capital expenditures and growth from AI, with Microsoft facing scrutiny over its capex growth outpacing revenue growth in Azure [5][48] - The market is reacting negatively to Microsoft's capex increase, which is seen as a risk amid uncertain AI adoption rates [10][11] - The AI landscape is evolving, with companies like Microsoft and Meta investing heavily in AI infrastructure, which is expected to yield long-term benefits despite short-term challenges [20][30] Group 4: Regulatory and Ethical Considerations - Amazon reported hundreds of thousands of pieces of content believed to include child sexual abuse material in its AI training datasets, raising ethical concerns about data sourcing and transparency [85][86] - The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children highlighted the importance of data sharing for law enforcement, which Amazon has not provided, stunting further investigation [88][89]