Big US tech stocks swing as investors probe AI spend

Big US tech stocks swing as investors probe AI spendJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKali HaysTechnology reporterReutersThe share prices of the biggest tech firms in the US swung up and down as investors considered their immense spending on artificial intelligence (AI).Facebook's owner Meta, Google's owner Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their business results for the first three months of this year at the same time on Wednesday.The companies collectively plan to spend more than half of a trillion dollars on AI this year, with Meta and Amazon making mass job cuts to offset these costs.Meta's shares slumped over 5% in after hours trading, while Microsoft and Amazon were down 2% and 1.6% respectively. Meanwhile, Alphabet share price jumped almost 6%.Investors in these firms have become increasingly concerned about whether the money being spent will generate returns. Wednesday's results revealed mixed bag for the companies on that front.MetaMark Zuckerberg, Meta's co-founder and chief executive, said in prepared remarks that the company "had a milestone quarter" with users of its apps and a release of a new AI model, but that seemed to be overshadowed by another increase on costs.Its share price slumped after it said it would be spending even more on AI projects and infrastructure than it anticipated.The firm said its planned capital expenditure, the metric companies use to detail their spending on projects that have not yet turned into business growth, will increase to as much as $145bn (£108bn), up from a previous maximum of $135bn.AlphabetAlphabet's positive performance and specifics around tangible business results from its AI spending saw the stock jump in after hours trading.The company said its profits rose by 30% and noted that its Google Cloud business grew by 63%, an increase it attributed specifically to an increase in AI usage by companies that buy cloud services.Sundar Pichai, Google's chi...