Seeking Alpha财报周前瞻：AI资本开支回报成焦点，Gartner警示2030年前3.5万亿美元AI基建或面临减值

It's the busiest week of the earnings season, headlined by three Magnificent 7 stocks, putting the AI trade in focus after last week's selloff fueled by massive spending and return on investment fears. Alphabet ( GOOG ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) are slated to post quarterly results on Wednesday, while Amazon's ( AMZN ) earnings are due Thursday. For all three companies, investors will closely look for updates on AI spending plans and to what extent their capital expenditures so far have paid off. Jefferies analyst Jane Gibbons said companies are increasingly pointing to tangible productivity gains from AI in their earnings reports and calls. These include faster workflows, automation of routine tasks, greater service capacity and better cost control. Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, noted that AI demand remains strong, "but Wall Street is losing patience with the cost of delivering it." While AI helped boost Meta's ( META ) advertising revenue, its quarterly free cash flow turned negative — its first ⁠cash burn in over a decade — and it lifted its capex outlook to fund its AI ambitions. "Pressure on free cash flow, as highlighted by Meta's earnings, is placing sharper focus on the sustainability and financing of [AI] spending," said Alexandra Semenova, financial insights strategist at Schwab Center for Financial Research. According to market research firm Gartner, more than $3.5T of AI infrastructure spending could be at risk of impairment by 2030-end if companies continue their current pace of spending. AI providers are expected to spend nearly $1T on AI infrastructure this year, and an additional $6T between 2027 and 2030. But Gartner warned that enterprise and consumer AI revenue may be insufficient to support profitable returns during this period.