In a moment of commendable self-knowledge, Mark Zuckerberg admitted this week that Meta Platforms’ colossal artificial intelligence investment is “not what investors want to hear”. He might be speaking for any of the big technology companies lately reporting earnings. What investors might like to hear is more detail about how these initiatives will shake out.
Amazon added to the mountain of investment and uncertainty on Thursday. The ecommerce group said it would spend $75bn this year, a jump of more than 50 per cent, largely on data centres and servers for its Amazon Web Services division. Chief executive Andy Jassy, like Zuckerberg and their counterparts at Alphabet and Microsoft, lightened the blow with revenue and earnings growth that easily beat analysts’ expectations.
Silicon Valley executives are doing what they can to show discipline, rolling up their sleeves and cutting costs. That shows up in wider operating margins, and sometimes in sharper elbows. Facebook owner Meta fired a handful of staff for misusing their meal allowances. Amazon wants workers back to the office to bolster productivity, to the chagrin of some.