By Samantha Subin
Publication Date: 2026-01-29 15:18:00
It’s a tale of two different megacaps so far this earnings season when it comes to artificial intelligence.
Meta Platforms surged more than 10% after showing signs that AI investments are boosting the bottom line, while Microsoft shares dropped as the company struggled to justify recent spending plans to investors and showed a slowdown in its cloud segment.
The money flowing into AI and new technology has been a major source of debate on Wall Street as investors increasingly want to see that companies are reaping rewards from the massive spending over the last year.
Meta appeared to gain approval from investors to keep putting money into AI. The social media giant issued strong guidance and said it plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on its AI build-out this year.
That’s nearly double what it spent in 2025.
In past quarters, investors have raised concerns over the company’s ambitious spending. However, the company’s 24% year-over-year revenue growth, fueled primarily…