On April 22, according to Wells Fargo analyst Eric Luebchow disclosed that Amazon had suspended some international data center lease negotiations, which echoed Microsoft's previous actions such as canceling hundreds of megawatts of leases and withdrawing its qualification declaration conversion plan.

Behind the simultaneous contraction of the two giants, it reflects the phased transition of AI computing power investment from barbaric growth to refined operations. According to TD Cowen's survey, Microsoft gave up an intention agreement of more than 1 gigawatt in the North American market alone, and at the same time, it will The pullback of international spending to the United States shows a deep calibration of regional supply and demand mismatch.

This adjustment is not an isolated incident.Microsoft's capital expenditure growth rate from 2023 to 2024 was as high as 96.5% year-on-year. Aggressive expansion made it the exclusive computing power provider of OpenAI. However, as the training demand for large models entered a stable period, some of the over-planned production capacity was at risk of being idle.

More noteworthy is that the gross profit margin of Microsoft's cloud business has dropped from 70% to 69%, reflecting that the high marginal cost of AI infrastructure is eroding profitability, forcing companies to rebalance short-term investments with long-term returns.In contrast, Google's 2025 capital expenditure plan of US$75 billion remains strong, and Meta has increased its annual budget to US$60 - 65 billion, showing the differentiation of industry's internal strategies: pioneers digest existing stocks, and chasers accelerate filling positions.

Microsoft and Amazon have slowed down AI infrastructure one after another. Does it indicate that the war against AI burning money is over?

In fact, the market's concerns about excess computing power may be over-amplified.Data shows that Amazon's North American data center has its own power capacity of more than 9 gigawatts, and 70% is self-built assets. The current "digestion period" is more like tactical rhythm control than strategic contraction.In addition, AWS CEO Andy Jasi also explicitly denied the reduction in construction scale, while Microsoft still maintains a full-year infrastructure investment plan of US$80 billion.

Capital expenditures by technology giants are still on the upward channel.Amazon plans to invest US$105.2 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 34.5%; Google's US$75 billion budget includes special support for the Gemini model; even if Microsoft is shrinking, its capital expenditure in a single quarter still accounts for as much as 70.9%, and the absolute investment scale has not been reduced.

This paradox of "coexistence of contraction and expansion" is essentially the inevitable transition of the industry from blanket investment to surgical investment.

Currently, investors are turning to the earnings season.Google's quarterly report on April 25 needs to verify the implementation of its $75 billion spending plan, while Microsoft's cloud business gross profit margin changes announced next week will reveal the effectiveness of cost control.

According to IDC, global AI infrastructure spending will exceed US$500 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 29%, which means that the current structural adjustment is only a short chapter in a grand narrative.