Big Tech wrapped up its strongest reporting cycle in years. The four hyperscalers, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, all reported on the same Wednesday and collectively signalled a new chapter in the AI infrastructure arms race, with capital spending budgets ballooning past prior forecasts. A global memory shortage, supercharged by AI demand, has become the defining cost pressure across the group, with Apple and Microsoft specifically calling out memory and Meta flagging higher component costs more broadly. The Iran conflict added another layer, weighing on user growth at Meta and casting broader uncertainty over component supply chains. Cloud growth reaccelerated meaningfully across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, leadership transitions arrived at Apple and Netflix, and tech stocks closed out their best month since the early days of the Covid pandemic¹. Here is what each name brought to the table this quarter. 

Meta (META)

Meta delivered its fastest revenue growth quarter since 2021, but the print was overshadowed by a quarter-over-quarter dip in users, which the company partially blamed on internet disruptions tied to the Iran conflict and a WhatsApp restriction in Russia. Capex came in lighter than expected for the quarter, but Meta raised its full-year guidance range to between $125 billion and $145 billion, citing higher component prices and additional data centre costs. Mark Zuckerberg used the report to spotlight Muse Spark, the first foundation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, and to reaffirm his pursuit of “personal superintelligence.” Investors were unimpressed, sending shares down more than 6% in extended trading.² 

Apple (APPL)

Apple’s first earnings call since Tim Cook announced his upcoming exit was about more than the numbers. Cook officially passes the CEO baton to longtime hardware chief John Ternus on September 1, and Ternus joined the call to flag an “incredible roadmap ahead” without giving any details. The headline beat across most lines, with the iPhone the lone significant miss, and the June quarter guide came in well above expectations. Cook warned of “significantly higher memory costs” ahead and described the AI ramp as a multi-year investment cycle, with R&D growing 33% year over year. Services revenue pushed gross margins to 49.3%, Greater China sales jumped 28%, and the board approved another $100 billion in buybacks.³ 

Netflix (NFLX)

Netflix beat on revenue and posted a sharp jump in earnings, the latter inflated by a $2.8 billion termination fee from the failed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. Despite the beat, shares dropped 9% after the company reiterated full-year guidance rather than raising it and announced that co-founder Reed Hastings will exit the board in June. Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos pointed to a doubling of advertising revenue toward $3 billion in 2026, active discussions with the NFL to “expand the relationship,” and continued momentum from live programming including the World Baseball Classic. Recent price increases are tracking in line with prior cycles, with some members downgrading or churning as expected.4 

Alphabet (GOOGL)

Alphabet posted its fastest revenue growth quarter since 2022, fuelled by a 63% surge in Google Cloud as enterprise AI moved from a side story to the company’s primary cloud growth driver for the first time. Capex guidance was lifted to $180 billion to $190 billion for 2026, with CFO Anat Ashkenazi flagging that 2027 spending will “significantly increase.” CEO Sundar Pichai openly acknowledged that cloud revenue would have been higher if Alphabet could meet demand, citing near-term compute constraints. Search held up well with 19% growth as AI experiences drove queries to record highs, while Waymo continued its expansion toward 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week. Alphabet stock has outperformed its Magnificent Seven peers this month.⁵ 

Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft topped estimates on the top and bottom lines and on Azure, which grew 39% on a constant currency basis. The bigger story was its 2026 capex outlook of $190 billion, well above consensus and roughly 61% higher than 2025, with approximately $25 billion of the total attributed to higher component prices. Microsoft 365 Copilot crossed 20 million paid commercial seats, up from 15 million in January, and AI-related annualised revenue reached $37 billion. Headcount is set to fall in fiscal 2027 as the company doubles down on data centre capacity. Microsoft also revamped its OpenAI relationship, ending revenue share payments and opening up OpenAI model access to other cloud providers, while preserving its IP licence through 2032.⁶ 

Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon posted its fastest AWS growth in over three years at 28%, beating expectations and reinforcing the cloud unit as the engine behind the company’s heavy AI spending. Property and equipment outlays climbed sharply, and free cash flow plunged 95% year over year as capex flows through. The company is targeting roughly $200 billion in 2026 capital spending, supported by a wave of new AI partnerships and the recently announced $11.57 billion Globalstar acquisition, which CEO Andy Jassy framed as a way to deepen Amazon’s satellite capabilities and strengthen its relationship with Apple. Amazon Leo, Amazon’s satellite internet service, is targeting commercial launch in the third quarter. Advertising revenue grew 24% and Q2 guidance came in above Wall Street estimates.⁷

Sources

1. Tech stocks close out best month since start of Covid pandemic in 2020[April 30, 2026] 
2. Meta stock drops on quarterly results as ‘internet disruptions’ in Iran drag down user numbers[April 29, 2026] 
3. Apple revenue guidance tops estimates on booming iPhone, Mac demand[April 30, 2026] 
4. Netflix stock sinks after streamer reiterates guidance, says Reed Hastings to exit board[April 16, 2026] 
5. Alphabet ups 2026 capex to as much as $190 billion, expects to ‘significantly increase’ in 2027[April 29, 2026] 
6. Microsoft calls for $190 billion in 2026 capital spending on soaring memory prices[April 29, 2026] 
7. Amazon earnings beat expectations with strong cloud growth[April 29, 2026] 

 Source: Getty Images Credit: Andriy Onufriyenko

Disclaimers 

Published May 6, 2026. 

Evolve Funds Group Inc. is the investment fund manager and portfolio manager. Evolve FANGMA Index ETF (“TECH”) is offered by Evolve Funds Group Inc., and distributed through authorized dealers. 

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