"AI is a Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity"...Big Tech Big 4's 'War of Money (Jjeon)'

Big Tech Big 4 Expected to Invest 288 Trillion Won in AI This Year
Focus on Data Center Sector
Amazon CEO: "A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity"

It is projected that the capital expenditure on artificial intelligence (AI) by the four major US big tech companies this year will reach 288 trillion won.

According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 1st (local time), Citigroup estimated that the combined capital expenditure of Microsoft (MS), Meta Platforms (Facebook's parent company), Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) this year will increase by 42% from the previous year to $209 billion (approximately 288.5 trillion won). Of this, 80% is expected to be invested in the data center sector.

Looking at recently announced earnings, the capital expenditure of these companies in the third quarter recorded about a 62% increase from the same period last year, reaching $60 billion (approximately 82.8 trillion won). Among them, MS spent $14.9 billion (approximately 20.5 trillion won) in the third quarter, a 50% increase from the same period last year.

The cloud sectors of MS and Google are growing rapidly, and these companies believe that generative AI helps advance core services and suppress operating costs.

In MS's case, annual revenue from the AI sector has approached $10 billion (approximately 13.8 trillion won), marking the fastest growth among MS's business divisions.

Brent Thill, an analyst at investment bank Jefferies, said that MS's disclosure of these figures is unusual and may be evidence that generative AI has started to generate revenue. However, he pointed out that other companies have not provided specific data on the revenue-increasing effects of AI.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that companies intend to continue or increase their investments in the AI sector next year.

Amazon's capital expenditure this year is expected to reach a record $75 billion (approximately 103.5 trillion won), and Andy Jassy, Amazon's CEO, said the day before, "AI is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity."

Meta's capital expenditure this year is expected to reach $40 billion (approximately 55.2 trillion won), and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also stated that they will continue investing in AI.