Here’s What to Expect From AI’s Two Biggest 2026 Spenders in 2027
Amazon and Alphabet are together pouring close to $400 billion into AI infrastructure this year, and the race to turn that mountain of spending into actual profit is about to get very interesting heading into 2027.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) just closed Q2 FY2026 books, and together they are on pace to deploy close to $400 billion in AI infrastructure this year. Both cloud arms accelerated. Both hyperscalers issued equity or debt to keep building. The 2027 question is which one converts that spend into durable free cash flow first.
AWS Reaccelerates, Google Cloud Sprints
AWS posted $42.23B in revenue, up 37% YoY, its fastest growth in 18 quarters, with operating margin at 39.4%. Backlog hit $496 billion. CEO Andy Jassy told analysts AI and chips businesses each cleared a $25 billion run rate, growing triple digits.
Google Cloud went further on percentage terms, jumping 82% YoY to $24.77B, with a backlog reported at $460B. Sundar Pichai noted “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 using” Gemini Enterprise and Gemini processing 22 billion API tokens per minute. Search still funded the buildout at $63.27B, up 17%.
| Q2 FY2026 | Amazon | Alphabet |
| Revenue | $200.61B | $119.80B |
| Cloud growth | 37% | 82% |
| Q2 capex | $54.21B | $44.92B |
| 2026 capex guide | ~$200B | $175B-$185B |
Partner Model vs. Full Stack
Amazon runs a bring-your-own-model shop. Bedrock now hosts GPT-5.6, Claude Opus 5, Gemma 4, and Grok 4.3, while Trainium anchors multi-gigawatt commitments from Anthropic (up to 5 GW) and OpenAI (~2 GW starting 2027). Jassy conceded Amazon is also “pursuing our own frontier model,” but the pitch is choice.
Alphabet is the opposite: own TPUs, own Gemini models, own distribution through Search and YouTube. That vertical integration is why operating margin held at 34% even as capex doubled. The trade-off shows up on the balance sheet, though. Long-term debt jumped from $46.5B to $98.2B, and buybacks were suspended in Q2.
2027 Is Where Capex Meets P&L
Consensus fiscal 2027 EPS sits at $10.47 for Amazon on ~$947B in revenue, and $14.86 for Alphabet on ~$612B. Jassy said data-center servers “take a little less than three years to break even,” which means much of the 2026 build monetizes into 2028 and beyond. He also noted the “lion’s share of capacity in 27” is already reserved. I will be watching whether AWS margin holds above 35% as Trainium capacity actually lights up.
Why I Lean Alphabet Into 2027
Both can work. If you want operating leverage today at a cheaper multiple, Alphabet trades at a forward P/E of 23 with a $428.16 analyst target, and Search plus YouTube is already paying the capex bill in cash. Amazon offers the wider AI menu and the fatter cloud backlog, but free cash flow is negative $7.6B on a trailing basis, and shares are up just 9.72% over the past year versus 39.05% for GOOGL. For a 2027 payoff on 2026 spend, I would rather own the vertically integrated stack that is already earning its way through the buildout. All of that $400B also has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we profiled seven of those suppliers in a free AI infrastructure report. If AWS margins expand another 300 basis points next year, I will happily revisit.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Alex Sirois is a financial writer with experience spanning both retail and institutional investing. He has written for InvestorPlace and held roles at BNY Mellon and Bernstein, giving him a perspective that bridges Main Street portfolios and Wall Street analysis.
Alex holds an MBA from George Washington University and has built his career across multiple industries, including e-commerce, education, and translation — a breadth of experience that informs how he breaks down complex financial topics for everyday investors. His writing is conversational, actionable, and grounded in long-term, buy-and-hold investing principles.
At 247 Wall St., Alex focuses on delivering analysis that is both accessible and useful, with a clear emphasis on helping readers make more informed decisions with their money.
