Microsoft forecasts $190 billion in 2026 capital spending, well above Wall Street estimates

Microsoft projected $190 billion in capital spending for 2026, far exceeding Wall Street consensus, as the company scrambles to meet surging AI demand and cope with soaring memory prices. In its Q3 2026 earnings, Microsoft beat on revenue and Azure cloud growth, but its forward guidance on quarterly revenue and operating margin fell short of analyst expectations. The company reported over 20 million paid seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial subscriptions, indicating strong enterprise AI adoption. The capex figure underscores the enormous financial commitment required to maintain Azure's position as the primary cloud platform for AI workloads, and the light guidance raises questions about near-term profitability trade-offs amid the infrastructure buildout.