By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-01-29 19:11:00
Big tech’s earnings so far this week are a clear warning: Investors are willing to ignore rising spending on artificial intelligence if it fuels strong growth, but are quick to punish companies that fall short.
The contrast was evident in the stock market’s reaction to Microsoft and Meta’s earnings on Thursday, highlighting how dramatically the stakes have changed since the launch of ChatGPT sparked the AI boom more than three years ago.
Shares of Instagram parent company rose more than 9% on strong sales, while Microsoft’s fell 10% after its cloud business failed to deliver.
“The market appears to be wondering whether these massive investment increases will generate sufficient returns,” said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. “This reflects a growing gap between tech companies’ AI ambitions and Wall Street’s patience with open-ended investment cycles.”
After exploiting its first-mover advantage with OpenAI to become the most valuable company in the world…
