The AI competition among tech giants has entered a "differentiation phase." Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), and Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) have gained market favor, while Meta (META.US) has faced investor skepticism.

As American technology giants sequentially release their financial reports while maintaining or raising capital expenditure guidance, Wall Street is accelerating its reassessment of the winners and losers in the AI race. Although large tech companies continue to increase their investment in AI, investors are no longer simply endorsing the "burning money" logic; instead, they are more focused on whether AI investments can actual returns, resulting in a significant divergence in the stock performance of different companies. Data shows that during this earnings season, the six tech giants that have reported so far have seen their combined market capitalization fluctuate by nearly $2 trillion. Among them, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), and Alphabet Inc. Class C parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US) have gained market recognition thanks to strong growth in cloud services. Microsoft Corporation's market cap increased by over $600 billion this week, while Amazon.com, Inc. and Alphabet both saw increases of over $400 billion, reflecting investors' belief that their ongoing billions of dollars in AI investments are starting to yield returns. In contrast, Meta (META.US) experienced a significant decline in its stock price following its earnings report, resulting in a market cap evaporation of roughly $85 billion this week. The company raised the lower end of its capital expenditure guidance but failed to sufficiently explain the demand for AI infrastructure and its future monetization paths, leading to market skepticism regarding its AI investment strategy. Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) faced challenges from storage chip supply shortages, and although its quarterly revenue, profits, and iPhone sales all exceeded market expectations, its revenue growth guidance for the quarter was only 9% to 11%, below the market expectation of 12%. The stock fell over 7% on Friday, with a market cap reduction of more than $35 billion. Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) also saw a decline of about $7 billion in market cap due to negative free cash flow and an expected increase in capital expenditures. Jason Greenberg, Co-Head of Global Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Investment Banking at Jefferies, stated that over the next 12 months, the capital expenditure scale of major American tech companies in AI is set to approach $800 billion. Investors are no longer questioning whether there is genuine demand for AI applications or computing power; the market's real concern is whether these enormous investments will generate sufficient and substantial profits in the future. As one of the standout performers in this earnings season, Amazon.com, Inc. reported a 37% year-on-year increase in AWS cloud revenue in the second quarter, marking the fastest growth since 2021, which clearly reflects the strong demand for AI cloud services from enterprises. The company also raised its capital expenditure expectation for 2026 from $200 billion to $220 billion to continue expanding AI infrastructure construction. On the back of this boost, Amazon.com, Inc.'s stock surged by over 15% on Friday. Forrester analyst Tracy Woo noted that AWSs robust growth clearly indicates that Amazon.com, Inc.s previous ongoing infrastructure investments are meeting market demands rather than being premature investments. Meanwhile, Meta has become another focal point of market attention. The company not only raised its capital expenditure outlook but also continued to push forward with multiple initiatives related to AI, smart glasses, self-developed chips, and data centers. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg failed to adequately explain the demand for AI infrastructure and the progress of commercialization during the earnings call, raising investor concerns. Gabelli fund manager Hendi Susanto remarked that the market's patience with Meta is waning. Although Zuckerberg stated that the company is actively exploring paths to AI commercialization, the lack of clear data and validation ultimately led to a negative reaction from investors. Analysts believe that this earnings season indicates that the market is actively selecting the true beneficiaries in the AI race. In the future, capital markets will pay closer attention to the return on investment from major tech companies' AI investments, rather than just the scale of capital expenditure itself.