While Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft unleash an unprecedented race to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in data centres to power artificial intelligence, a surprising anomaly exists in the tech landscape: Apple, the world's most valuable company, barely participates in this fever. A decision that defies all logic and raises uncomfortable questions about the Cupertino company's strategy in the age of AI.

The colossal waste of Big Tech

The numbers speak for themselves. During 2025, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft jointly invested over 416 billion dollars in capital expenditure (Capex) destined for infrastructure, 66% more than the 251 billion from the previous year, according to xataka.com.

The escalation is dizzying. Google reached 91.5 billion dollars, marking a historic high; Meta injected 72.2 billion, and Microsoft reached 118 billion dollars. For 2026, the commitment skyrockets: these four companies will jointly allocate around 725 billion dollars to AI infrastructure, 77% more than in 2025. Analysts already project the figure will exceed one trillion dollars in 2027.

To put these amounts in perspective: 724 billion dollars exceeds the annual GDP of countries like Sweden (662 billion), Israel (610 billion) or Singapore (574 billion). We are talking about investments comparable to entire national economies.

Apple, the bewildering exception

Amid this relentless race, Apple stands out by its absence. During 2025, the company's Capex remained practically flat compared to 2024, with total investment of 12.715 billion dollars. Although it plans to increase that figure to 20 billion in 2026, it remains a modest sum compared to its rivals.

What is truly striking emerges when analysing capital expenditure as a percentage of market value. Amazon leads with 7.63% of its market capitalisation, followed by Microsoft with 6.67% and Alphabet with 4.49%. Meta invests 3.04%. Apple, being the world's most valuable company, dedicates only 0.29% of its market value to this infrastructure. It is practically irrelevant.

Wall Street pressure or alternative strategy?

Analysts suggest that these companies' decisions are heavily influenced by stock markets. There is a kind of contagion effect: if you don't invest colosally in data centres, the market punishes you. Big Tech appears to have yielded to this pressure. But not Apple.

The Cupertino firm follows a different route. Recently, Apple and Google sealed a collaboration to integrate Gemini models into the new "Siri AI", unveiled at WWDC 2026. Rather than building its own massive infrastructure, Apple appears to be betting on strategic collaborations and local development of more efficient models, delegating part of the work to third parties.

Who will win the battle?

An inevitable question emerges: if AI is going to generate unprecedented wealth, who will really keep it? Apple bets on not investing like the others. Its competitors bet everything on massive computational muscle. NVIDIA, the chip supplier for these data centres, will probably be one of the big beneficiaries, with Capex comparatively ridiculous relative to market capitalisation.

The truth is that Apple is playing a different game. For now, the market is not punishing it. But if its AI strategy based on collaborations and local efficiency does not generate tangible results in the coming months, Wall Street's patience could run out.