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China Tech Companies Chart Different AI Courses Amid Capex Arms Race

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Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to flashy demos—it’s now a line on the income statement, and an even bigger one on capital expenditure budgets.

In the third quarter of 2025, the world’s biggest tech companies reported robust growth fueled by AI and cloud services, paired with staggering increases in spending on the infrastructure powering that boom. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Apple all posted solid results and double-digit revenue gains, buoyed by demand for AI-enhanced products and cloud computing. In tandem, their capital spending surged into the tens of billions of dollars per quarter as they race to build and rent out the computing “rails” behind the AI revolution.

Yet outside the U.S., two major players stands apart: Alibaba and Tencent. Often called China’s closest analogues to the Western tech titans, their businesses span social media, gaming, e-commerce, fintech, cloud, and digital content—making it a key non-U.S. test of whether the AI super-cycle is truly global. Their latest earnings provide a revealing counterpoint: Can a platform operating under different regulatory constraints and without Silicon Valley-level capex keep pace in the AI era?

Big Tech’s AI Infrastructure Spending Soars

Big Tech’s spending on AI infrastructure shows no sign of slowing, as illustrated by surging Capex across leaders like Amazon, Google (Alphabet), and Microsoft. The Q3 2025 earnings season underscored this arms race in AI and cloud investment. Some highlights include:

  • Microsoft: Revenue jumped 18% year-on-year to $77.7 billion on strong demand for its AI-infused Azure cloud services. The company recorded nearly $35 billion in quarterly capital expenditure—a record high—and warned that annual spending will climb further to meet booming AI workloads.
  • Alphabet (Google): Quarterly revenue climbed 16% to $102.3 billion, beating expectations, as its core advertising and Google Cloud units benefited from surging enterprise AI demand. Alphabet hiked its 2025 capex guidance to $91–93 billion, up dramatically from about $52.5 billion last year, to build data centers and custom AI chips.
  • Amazon: The e-commerce and cloud giant poured $89.9 billion into capex in the first three quarters alone, largely to expand its AI-driven AWS cloud and logistics footprint. Amazon’s CFO projects around $125 billion in full-year 2025 capital outlays – and even more in 2026. So far, the investment is paying off: AWS revenue rose 20% in Q3, its fastest growth in years, as businesses embraced new AI services on the platform.
  • Meta (Facebook): Meta reported solid revenue growth (26% YoY), but investors’ eyes are on its aggressive infrastructure push. Q3 capex reached $19.4 billion, and Meta raised its 2025 spending plan to $70–72 billion, with “notably larger” outlays slated for next year to build AI supercomputing capacity. This massive investment in data centers and chips – aimed at powering advanced AI models and services – is pressuring Meta’s near-term margins and stirred debate about returns.
  • Apple: Even Apple, traditionally less focused on cloud data centers, delivered a record $94 billion in its June quarter (a fiscal Q3 record for the company) on the back of strong iPhone and services sales. On its earnings call, Apple emphasized it is “significantly” growing AI investments across devices and services. Those AI initiatives are driving a rise in Apple’s own capital expenditures (which hit $3.5 billion in the June quarter, up from $2.1 billion a year prior) – though Apple noted it relies on third-party infrastructure for some needs, keeping its capex growth more moderate than peers.

Across the board, these giants are treating AI and cloud infrastructure as foundational investments. The through-line: their capex profiles now resemble national-scale infrastructure projects, underlining expectations that AI is a long-term growth engine. Each company is effectively laying digital railroad tracks for the AI age, aiming to be a platform others must depend on.

Alibaba: The Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant posted a 5% YoY increase in total revenue to RMB 247,795 million (US$34,769 million) for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. However, this growth came at a significant cost to profitability, with net income decreasing by 53% YoY to RMB 20,612 million (US$2,893 million), and Adjusted EBITA dropping by 78% YoY to RMB 9,073 million (US$1,274 million). Crucially, Alibaba’s free cash flow turned negative, reaching RMB (21,840) million (US$(3,068) million), reflecting substantial investments. This investment was particularly evident in the China E-commerce Group, where Adjusted EBITA decreased 76% due to heavy spending in quick commerce, user experience, and technology. In contrast, the Cloud Intelligence Group saw its revenue accelerate by 34% YoY to RMB 39,824 million (US$5,594 million), with AI-related product revenue showing triple-digit growth, and Adjusted EBITA for this segment increasing by 35% to RMB 3,604 million (US$506 million). This signals Alibaba’s commitment to building out its AI and cloud infrastructure, mirroring the investment-heavy strategy of its Western counterparts despite the immediate impact on overall profitability.

Tencent’s third-quarter 2025 results show a company riding the AI wave, but with a very different strategy. Rather than outspending rivals on data centers, Tencent has focused on weaving AI into its sprawling ecosystem of apps and services. The company’s revenue rose 15% year-on-year to RMB 192.9 billion (about $27 billion), topping analyst forecasts, and net profit jumped 19%. Notably, this growth came amid China’s lower economic expansion and stricter tech regulations, highlighting Tencent’s resilience.

Crucially, AI is now a real contributor to Tencent’s top line, not just a research project. Advertising revenue surged 21% from a year earlier, which management attributed largely to AI-driven improvements in ad targeting and creativity, as well as higher ad impressions from new content formats like WeChat’s Video Accounts (a TikTok-like short video feed). Tencent’s CFO noted that roughly half of the ad upswing came from higher ad pricing (eCPMs) thanks to more precise AI targeting. In other words, better machine learning models helped match ads to users more effectively, boosting advertisers’ willingness to pay without Tencent having to cram in more ads. Meanwhile, user engagement with video content (via Video Accounts) and other services drove the rest of the ad growth by increasing ad inventory.

Tencent has also rapidly deployed AI to enhance its products and efficiency. Over the past year, the company rolled out its in-house large language model (Hunyuan) and a ChatGPT-like assistant named Yuanbao across its platforms. Yuanbao now integrates with popular apps like WeChat (including Channels short videos and official accounts), QQ Music, Tencent Video, and even enterprise tools like Tencent Meeting, where features such as AI-generated meeting summaries have been introduced. This “applied AI” approach – infusing intelligent features throughout social media, gaming, finance, and office apps – aims to deepen user engagement inside Tencent’s huge 1.4 billion-user ecosystem.

On the enterprise side, Tencent is leveraging AI to cut costs and offer new services. Management highlighted efficiency gains from AI in areas like game development workflows and cloud operations. The company has also launched AI-powered solutions for advertisers and businesses (for example, an automated ad campaign platform that optimizes targeting, bidding, and creative content). These moves help Tencent monetize AI quickly across its existing businesses, rather than primarily selling AI computing power to external clients.

Perhaps most striking is that Tencent achieved these gains with far lower capital spending than its American counterparts. Tencent’s capital expenditure in Q3 2025 was about RMB 13 billion (~$1.8 billion), actually down 24% from the same period a year earlier. For full-year 2025, the company expects Capex to increase from 2024 levels (when it spent around $10.7 billion) but remain modest as a percentage of revenue. Tencent has said its AI-focused Capex should reach the “low teens” percentage of revenue – implying on the order of $10–15 billion annually, a world apart from the $70+ billion that U.S. giants are each spending.

Competition, Risks, and Outlook for the AI Boom

This divergence in strategy raises a larger strategic question for the industry: who wins in the long run—the companies building the biggest AI “railroads,” or those focusing on immediate AI-driven product gains? In the near term, U.S. Big Tech firms’ willingness to spend lavishly on AI infrastructure is cementing their dominance. Their cloud divisions are becoming the essential utilities of the AI economy, forcing smaller players and enterprise customers to rent compute power rather than build their own. This could entrench a few platforms as toll-collectors for AI innovation. From a competitive standpoint, it’s an “AI arms race” that newcomers will find hard to match, potentially reinforcing Big Tech’s market power.

At the same time, the heavy spending comes with risks. Investors and analysts are closely watching the ROI on these AI bets. Thus far, market reactions have been mixed: companies like Amazon and Microsoft saw their stock jump as cloud AI growth reaccelerated, whereas Meta’s shares slipped when it signaled even bigger capex next year, reflecting worries about squeezing profits. Some observers warn of a possible AI investment bubble, drawing parallels to the late-1990s dot-com era. The difference now, optimists argue, is that today’s tech giants are highly profitable and AI demand is real – evidenced by tangible productivity gains and new revenue streams for customers. Still, the pressure is on these companies to deliver visible returns on their enormous outlays. Shareholders will tolerate sky-high Capex only as long as it translates into competitive advantage and earnings growth, not just tech glory.

Regulators, too, are sharpening their gaze. With so much computing power and data in the hands of a few firms, authorities in the U.S. and Europe are exploring new rules to prevent monopolistic control in the AI era. Antitrust cases (such as the U.S. government’s lawsuit over Google’s search dominance) and digital market regulations (like the EU’s Digital Markets Act) are increasingly factoring in the influence of AI and cloud infrastructure concentration. The balance between fostering innovation and curbing excessive power will be a key storyline as the AI boom continues.

Looking ahead, the industry may be entering a new phase of the AI cycle. The “super-cycle” of investment has clearly gone global and shows few signs of slowing; even geopolitical barriers haven’t stopped Tencent and others from pushing forward. The next chapters will likely be about monetization and efficiency. Companies that have spent big on AI will need to prove that these investments can drive sustainable growth or margin expansion (for instance, through automation or new AI services). Those taking a more measured approach will aim to demonstrate they can reap AI’s benefits without breaking the bank.

For now, Alibaba and Tencent’s Q3 suggests that the AI revolution isn’t one-size-fits-all. Silicon Valley’s strategy of spending to build AI infrastructure at almost any cost is one path to dominance. They are showcasing another path: leveraging a massive user base and integrating AI features deeply into an ecosystem to generate revenue quickly, all while keeping capital spending relatively lean. If the coming years reveal that AI’s true value lies not just in who owns the biggest server farms but in who best integrates AI into daily life, their model could offer a blueprint for a more capital-efficient AI era. On the other hand, if AI’s future economics favor scale above all else, They may eventually need to ramp up investments or partner externally to stay in the race.



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Galaxy TriFold Revealed, OnePlus 15’s American Adventure, Pixel 10a Pricing

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December 6, 2025

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Taking a look back at this week’s news and headlines across the Android world, including the Galaxy Z TriFold arrives, Galaxy S26 Ultra specs, the new Exynos promise, Pixel 10a pricing, Nubia Fold details, OnePlus 15 heads to America, and Google’s QPR2 source code released.

Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Android in the last seven days. You can also read my weekly digest of Apple news here on Forbes.

The Galaxy’s Number Is Now Three

Samsung has launched the highly anticipated Galaxy Z TriFold, a foldable device with three screen elements and two hinges to offer a pocketable phone and a tablet screen that is significantly less square than other foldable devices in the South Korean company’s portfolio. It’s a technical marvel, but it may not be the best seller some in the community are looking for:

“It will be available more widely, but no date has yet been attached. “Samsung Electronics will launch the ‘Galaxy Z Trifold’ in Korea on the 12th and then launch it sequentially to global markets such as China, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States,” Samsung said in a newsroom post. No exact date yet, then, though I’d be astonished if it was before 2026.”

The Galaxy S26 Comparison

What will be a best seller, all being well, will be the Galaxy S26 family. With specifications widely available, albeit unconfirmed by Samsung, it’s possible to compare the upcoming S26 devices with the current S25 models. As the flagship, the Galaxy 26 Ultra has the most scrutiny:

“Samsung is switching to a new 6.9-inch M14 AMOLED panel, although it probably will not get much brighter. European users will likely only get 12GB RAM, compared with 16GB in other regions such as China. At least Samsung fans around the world will probably get to enjoy the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 instead of the Exynos 2600.”

Here Comes The Exynos

Samsung has confirmed its flagship Exynos 2600 chipset. This will draw direct comparison to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 chipset, which is currently debuting in premium handsets across the Android space. The Samsung community has generally preferred Snapdragon over Exynos, at least on the top-tier Galaxy Ultra handsets. The S26 Ultra is still expected to ship in the first quarter of 2026 with a Snapdragon chipset, but Exynos could dominate the other handsets in the S26 family. Sammobile’s Asif Shak has more:

“A teaser video of the Exynos 2600 was just published by Samsung on its YouTube channel. In the video, the company says, “In silence, we listened,” hinting at controversies around performance and overheating issues associated with some previous Exynos chips. It is the South Korean firm’s indirect way of saying it understands the criticism around its chips and that it intends to improve upon their shortcomings.”

The Pixel 10a Price Conundrum

Google’s next smartphone is expected to be the Pixel 10a, which will bring the latest AI-focused hardware and smartphone technology to the mid-range. It’s expected to remain at $499, but there are still questions that need to be addressed.I took a closer look at these earlier this week.

“A more interesting question on the price will be around the pricing in the Google Store. The Pixel 9a has been discounted by $100 in the US store for a long time before the Pixel Black Friday offers. There’s every chance that the discount stays in place for Christmas. Will this forever discount carry on into the new year? What happens when the Pixel 10a arrives? Does the Pixel 9a remain discounted, and does the Pixel 10a lock in at $499 for the summer? Or does the continued use of older silicon see the 9a quietly removed from the portfolio, leaving the Pixel 10a as he sole ‘A-class’ on sale as a new handset?”

Nubia Fold Details Published

The first folding smartphone from Nubia has been confirmed by Japanese network Y!mobile. The Nubia Fold has appeared on its website, with a list price of 178,560 yen ($1,145). Given the specs, this is a very competitive offer, especially if this Fold gets a global release. GSM Arena has collected the specs, including the all-important display.

“The nubia Fold features an 8-inch main display with 2,480 x 2,200px resolution and a 6.5-inch cover screen with 2,748 x 1,172px resolution. Both panels offer 120Hz refresh rates, and the main panel supports split view modes for certain apps…

America Is Ready For The OnePlus 15

Following its global release, those looking for the OnePlus 15 in the United States were left in limbo. Without FCC certification, the device cannot go on sale, and with the government shutdown, no certification could be issued. Well, that hurdle has now passed. As GSMArena notes, the FCC is back in business, the certification has been issued, and the OnePlus 15’s US adventure is set to continue.

And Finally…

Google has released the source code for its latest Android update, feeding it back into the open-source community. Given the two-month delay in the release of Android 16’s QPR1, the community is taking the almost immediate release of QPR2 as a positive sign.

“Given that context, some developers worried Google might repeat that strategy and withhold Android 16 QPR2’s source code for an unspecified time. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened. Google started uploading Android 16 QPR2’s source code almost immediately after releasing the update. This suggests the previous delay was indeed tied to the mid-cycle Pixel Drop, and that today’s update — while not officially labeled a Pixel Drop — is one in all but name.

Android Circuit rounds up the news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course, read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!



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iPhone 17 Pro Display Issues, Apple’s Satellite Upgrades, Four New MacBook Pro Models

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December 6, 2025

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Taking a look back at this week’s news and headlines from across the Apple world, including iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 sales success, balancing iOS 18 and iOS 26, four new MacBooks, Apple Satellite upgrades, moving to Meta, and the Christmas Tree lights are turned on.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Apple in the last seven days. You can also read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes.

An iPhone 17 Pro Display Warning

Apple’s new cover on the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max displays has increased the protection on offer. Ceramic Shield 2 also increases scratch resistance and reduces reflections. Yet its interaction with some screen protectors reduces the anti-reflection technology, which requires direct contact with air. An iPhone 17 study by Astropad has taken a closer look at the impact of a screen protector. Forbes contributor David Phelan looks at the options you have:

“[the report] goes on to say that some screen protectors, when placed on top of Ceramic Shield 2, doubled the amount of reflectivity on the display. An anti-reflective coating is desirable, so this result is not.

“The study promotes Astropad’s Fresh Coat solution as a way or reducing reflectivity, though you could argue that it might be an even better solution to not put any protector on at all, if Apple’s claims of less scratchability prove correct — and they haven’t been widely disproved yet”

Apple Reaps iPhone 17 Rewards

The success of the iPhone 17 in global markets is having a positive effect on the iPhone market. New research from IDC suggests that Apple is on course to grow sales by more than six percent, in large part due to the vanilla iPhone’s adoption by the Chinese market. Juli Clover takes a closer look at the numbers:

“Total 2025 shipments are forecast to grow 6.1 percent year over year due to iPhone 17 demand and increased sales in China, a major market for Apple. Overall worldwide smartphone shipments across Android and iOS are forecast to grow 1.5 percent, primarily because of the success of the iPhone.”

The Balance Between iOS 18 and iOS 26

Since the launch of the iPhone 17 and iOS 26, Apple has been supporting iOS 18 for older incompatible iPhones and for users who are not yet ready — for whatever reason — to upgrade their phones. While the updated versions of iOS 18 are still available, the UI has been reconfigured to highlight iOS 26 and minimze the visibility of iOS 18.

“…the iPhone’s Software Update screen now features iOS 26.1 prominently, while iOS 18.7.2 has been demoted to ‘alternate version’ status. Users may now see a badge on the Settings app indicating the new update is available, but it won’t be installed without direct user action. For major OS upgrades, users need to manually install the new version even when they have ‘Automatic updates’ turned on.:

Three New MacBooks Before One Big Boss

This week saw a rush of details around Apple’s plans for the MacBook. While the M5 chipset has made a soft debut, 2026 should see more variants going on sale throughout the year. These will include a low-cost MacBook that will likely compete with Chromebooks, an update to the MacBook Air and the introduction of an M5 Pro MacBook Pro model. As for the fourth model…

“The biggest update arrives later in the year. Both Kuo and Gurman say Apple is working on a redesigned MacBook Pro with M6 chips and OLED displays. These machines are expected to bring some of the most dramatic changes in years, including …OLED panels with deeper blacks, higher contrast, and better power efficiency …Touch-screen support while keeping the full keyboard and trackpad.”

The Benfits And Cost Of Apple Satellite

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed Apple’s plans for satellite connectivity, including navigation in Apple Maps, support for sending photos in Messages, and an API to allow developers to offer satellite connectivity. The question now is who pays for the services?

“Today, Apple’s satellite connectivity features are available for free. For more advanced capabilities in the future, Apple reportedly plans to let customers pay satellite carriers for features directly. Apple could also create a paid option for extended connectivity with a company like SpaceX. Gurman added that there have been discussions in the company about offering its own satellite service, but concerns that Apple shouldn’t act like a carrier have stifled that possibility.”

Apple To Meta Moves

One of Apple’s longest-tenured executives is leaving the company to join Meta. Alan Dye has been the head of Apple’s user interface design team for ten years. Meta’s move is seen as a precursor to designing and releasing new hardware, and will start work as Chief Design Officer on Dec. 31. Apple confirmed the move in a statement provided to Bloomberg News:

“Steve Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in the statement. “He has always set an extraordinarily high bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s culture of collaboration and creativity.”

And Finally…

The annual Christmas Tree reveal at Apple’s offices in Battersea, South London. Previously, Apple turned to noted designers and artists. This year twenty-four designs by the public are in rotation until Christmas Eve:

“Apple’s annual holiday projections go live at 5 p.m. U.K. time on Thursday, Dec. 4. These projections light up the 330-feet chimneys and washtowers of the Battersea Power Station in south London, Apple’s U.K. HQ. This year, for the first time, members of the public could submit their designs: Apple has just revealed the winners, and they look great.””

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.



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Antigravity A1 Is A New Drone With New Tricks

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December 5, 2025

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Over the past two years DJI and Insta360 — two tech giants which have respectively dominated the drone and 360 camera field — have increasingly ventured into the other brand’s territory. After years of making similar performing smartphone gimbals and small action cameras, DJI launched its first ever 360 camera a couple months ago, and now Insta360 is introducing a drone under its new sub-brand Antigravity.

The A1 weighs 249g, just under the 250g standard set by many countries that would require registration. This means you can bring this drone into countries and fly it without hassle. In fact, during my testing period I brought the A1 to Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia without being stopped at the airport. While the Antigravity A1 may look like a typical DJI consumer drone at first glance, it has a fundamentally different approach to documenting the skies, which also alters how the pilot controls the drone. This is a good thing, because DJI’s consumer drones are already near flawless, so Antigravity’s new drone going in a new direction is a fresh take.

The A1 differs from any other drone on the market because it shoots 360-degree videos, just like parent company Insta360’s X series of cameras. In fact, the lens on the A1 are almost the same as the lens on the Insta360 X5: a pair of 1/1.28-inch lenses that each shoot 180-degree field-of-view videos, and with some clever software stitching, the two footage produces a single 360-degree video that covers the entire canvas.

Once the A1 is in the air, the pilot will be able to see an entire 360-degree view of the sky from the headset, which resembles a VR headset or Apple Vision Pro.

Piloting the drone is done via a remote control made up of various dials, buttons and triggers, and is designed to be operated with one hand. The user can navigate the drone using the dials on the controller, or simply by moving and pointing the remote controller, as it has a built-in gyroscope. So in other words, if you want to turn left, you can either rotate the dial left, or simply point the controller left.

The footage captured by the drone is in 8k resolution, but you have to remember this is 8k resolution spread across an entire 360-degree canvas, so footage looks clean, but not “razor sharp” like an 8K television footage would look. When the drone is airborne, the goggles show me the entire 360 view, and I have to either move my head, or spin the drone, to see my entire surroundings. I can also look up and down. The experience feels like an immersive VR video, but showing me real-time footage from the drone.

As someone who’s afraid of heights, the first time I looked down from the drone’s perspective gave me a scare, because it looked and felt so real.

You can see actual video footage from the drone in the video below. You can see the experience can be quite immersive.

A major advantage of having a 360 camera instead of the conventional regular camera on a DJI drone is that the A1 captures everything in one go, so you don’t have to worry about framing, or missing a scene. For example, if I am shooting a skateboarder or a mountain biker with a DJI drone, I may have to do a retake if the first flight didn’t frame and capture the person correctly. Maybe I flew the drone too low and the framing cropped off part of the subject’s face, or maybe the drone was too high and didn’t record the landing. But with the A1, since it captures everything, there would be no such worries.

Of course, one disadvantage of the A1 is that a 360 camera has so many pixels to cover that videos aren’t going to be quite as sharp as a dedicated conventional camera with a narrower field-of-view.

The Antigravity A1, being a flagship drone with excellent 360 cameras, doesn’t come cheap. The cheapest option is the standard bundle which retails for $1,600, and there are higher tier bundles (with more accessories) that go for around $1,700 or $1,800. But this is the price of premium flagship drones, and at least the A1 can claim to be able to capture footage no other drone can do.



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