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Summer 2025 provides a significant change in the financial markets, in particular for companies that can rely too much on the acronym of two now familiar letters – AI. A few years ago, investors burst from euphoria around artificial intelligence pieces. The simple mention of the AI in the call for profits could inflate the evaluations. This year, the feeling of investors has evolved. Capturing the attention of investors today requires more than about media and ambitious growth projections – it requires solid profits.
The first wave: story on numbers
The first wave of AI enthusiasm, extending in 2023 and 2024, was motivated by convincing stories and substantial investment entries – rising hundreds of billions of dollars. Many companies have capitalized on excitement, often without gains to justify the momentum. An elite group of seven companies did not need successful benefits to attract correspondence entries.
Their rocket assessments were more motivated by future potential rather than current performance. These seven names – Microsoft, Google Parent Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Facebook Parent Meta and Nvidia – have emerged as the chief architects of the Fuelled AI revolution and saw that the prices of their actions would look into recording heights. Collectively known as “Magnificent Seven”, it is the technology giants who are in a race to build the infrastructure layer so that AI can prosper.
What is the common ground between the first six companies? These are all the main customers of Nvidia, apart from Apple, who spends a tiny sum of money on Nvidia equipment. All the others buy nvidia flea cargo to train their tongue models (LLM) and feed their AI capacities. This is how Nvidia sparked the IA rally – and the gains followed.
Does Nvidia lose the confidence of investors?
NVIDIA shares increased by 239% in 2023 and 171% in 2024. However, despite fundamental solids, the Tech heavy goods vehicle had trouble gaining traction in 2025. At the start of the year, an enormous increase in annual income was not enough to make merchants and investors work to load stock. NVIDIA said $ 130.5 billion in revenue for 2024 (fiscal 2025) – more than a dollar 60.9 billion he posted the previous year.
Companies that can transform AI innovation into long -term coherent profits will stand out
Investor reaction? Some polished applause, some yawning and just enough purchase of momentum to maintain the actions of Nvidia stable after the report on the results of February 26, which included the performance of the 2025 financial year. The silent market response suggested that even the high expectations of the sky may have already been evaluated. After all, Nvidia set the raised bar in the fourth quarter of 2023, crushing Wall Street’s expectations with an explosive leap of 265% over the other.
As the AI sector evolves, differentiation will be essential. Investors are now paying particular attention to fundamental principles: sustainable margins, monetization strategies and disciplined capital expenses. Companies that can transform AI innovation into coherent and long -term benefits will stand out. At the same time, others may find it difficult to justify their high assessments in a market that is increasingly focusing on income. Before these income had a chance to materialize, certain expenses must take place – and give time to give results.
CAPEX: A hero or a villain?
Capital expenditure, or CAPEX, refer to the amount of money that a company allocates to investment in innovation, upgrades and new assets such as hardware or software. In the context of AI, companies generally spend to buy high performance computer equipment and the creation of data centers to support them. Unlike operating expenses, which cover daily costs, CAPEX focuses on projects that should offer value over the years, even decades.
CAPEX is not always suitable for investors, because these types of investments require patience and long -term vision. This is where the market tends to divide – between those who have discipline to wait for the long -term value and those who hunt fast victories.
The year of big investments
This is a distinction that the largest players on the market seem to understand – even if it means being misunderstood by investors. The Magnificent Seven have transformed this year into a year of daring investments, showing a solid conviction in the future of artificial intelligence thanks to record levels of capital expenditure.
Microsoft has started $ 80 billion to extend its data centers and build its AI infrastructure. This daring investment effort is designed to feed its Azure Cloud platform and its wider corporate ecosystem. Microsoft’s Chatbot AI Copilot should become a pillar tool for businesses and consumers aimed at optimizing their workflow and daily tasks.
As the first Chatgpt Parent Openai funder, in which he has a 49% stake after a daring bet of $ 13 billion, Microsoft positioned himself at the front and center of the AI generator space. He is behind the parent alphabet of Google, which affected about $ 75 billion for similar initiatives. Commitment strengthens the position of the research giant in research and cloud services on AI.
The Magnificent Seven made this year a year of daring investments
An important part of IT supports the development of Gemini – the Google flagship AI model and a direct competitor of Chatgpt and Copilot. Amazon does the most daring of all, with capital expenses exceeding $ 100 billion for 2025. Many of these expenses will be channeled in the IA infrastructure for Amazon Web Services (AWS) – the backbone of its corporate operations and a major engine of its profitability.
Likewise, Meta has strongly revised its upward prospects, committing a total between $ 60 billion and $ 65 billion – an increase of almost 70% compared to previous projections. The lion’s share of these large tickets will build the construction of warehouse data centers to supply AI products through business applications, including Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
The rest of the magnificent Seven, Apple, Tesla and Nvidia group, did not disclose official projections of Capex. However, their advice and term expenditure activities suggest significant and important investments in AI and related technologies. For Apple, the emphasis is on the development of compatible iPhones AI fueled by Apple Intelligence, the way of Tech Titan to catch up in the AI race. For Tesla, these are the autonomous driving capacities thanks to full driving, the highest driver’s assistance software from the electric vehicle manufacturer.
For NVIDIA, this is continuous innovation in the manufacture of GPU and flea, with Blackwell as the next great thing that should maintain growing demand. These are just some of the ways in which these technology chiefs are positioned for long-term relevance.
A new era in progress
Overall, this wave of capital investment in 2025 – totaling more than $ 300 billion among the best players – signals more than a simple optimistic note. It reflects a fundamental change in the way the value will be created during the next decade.
Despite the volatility of the market, occasional declines of investors and macroeconomic challenges, these companies do not retreat on their daring investment initiatives. Instead, they double – investing today for the growth of tomorrow, fully aware that yields can take time to materialize.
In IA 1.0, the markets rewarded advice and expectations. In AI 2.0, they reward performance. The speculative phase has given way to operational discipline and the creation of value anchored in the adoption of new technologies.
High interest rates, against only four years ago, have reintroduced the idea that capital has a cost. This has focused on those who hold the upper hand. Large infrastructure players, with their price power and the established supply chains, are the main winners.
What to expect in 2026
After a few years defined by euphoric spy gains, followed by a frantic rush to set up the infrastructure, the market enters a new chapter – an implementation of execution, efficiency and results. While we look in 2026, three trends are likely to influence the AI profile cycle.
First, the adoption of the company becomes the real decisive test. Do companies pay for large-scale AI? Do work flows evolve both significant and monetitable? Do consumers need AI daily? These questions will take the front of the stage.
Second, the margins will be under pressure. Infrastructure costs are high and energy prices are increasing. Companies with lea and more effective models will be better placed to maintain profitability.
And thirdly, the competitive moat will start with more importance. In the first rounds of the AI race, ambition and access to capital were sufficient to keep businesses in the game. By 2026, investors will want clear answers: who belongs the data? Who controls the distribution? Who has owner models, scale advantages or ecosystem locking?
As the space ripens, the rest of the power – not only innovation – will separate the frontrunners from melored media threshing.