- Global spending on cloud infrastructure skyrocketed in Q3 2025, but so did hyperscaler capex
- Hyperscaler order backlogs also continued to climb, signaling that demand remains robust for now
- Add Oracle and CoreWeave's capex and supposed backlogs into the mix and you might see a bubble
Global spending on cloud infrastructure services jumped 27% year on year in Q3 2025 from $84 billion to nearly $107 billion, according to data from Synergy Research Group.
The quarter also saw the largest ever sequential leap in spending, jumping $7.5 billion from Q2. If capex among the hyperscalers is any indication, that figure will continue to see monstrous growth.
If you include Oracle's and CoreWeave's yet-to-be-reported capex and supposed backlogs into the mix and you might find a shape almost resembling a bubble.
Capex spending money
Microsoft led capex spending in Q3, dropping $34.9 billion, but was closely trailed by Amazon with its $34.2 billion outlay.
Google Cloud parent Alphabet reported $24 billion in capex, with the majority going to technical infrastructure. Alphabet execs said on an earnings call, 60% of its infrastructure spending went to servers while the remaining 40% went to data centers and networking gear.
These figures are only expected to climb next year.
Amazon pegged its full year 2025 capex at $125 billion but warned that figure is set to increase in 2026. Likewise, Alphabet upped its 2025 capex guidance by several billion dollars to a range of $91 billion to $93 billion and predicted a significant jump in 2026.
For some context, Microsoft spent $20 billion in capex in the comparable quarter last year. Meanwhile, Amazon reported $22.6 billion in capex for Q3 2024 and said in Q4 of that year that it expected 2025 spending to be in the $100 billion range.
Backlogs and supply constraints
Unfortunately, cloud hyperscalers don’t really have a choice in the capex equation, given the massive order backlogs they’ve accumulated and the constrained supply environment.
Google Cloud’s backlog jumped 82% year on year to $155 billion.
Meanwhile, Amazon executives said the $200 billion backlog it had tallied as of the end of Q3 didn’t include “several unannounced new deals in October,” one of which was likely the $38 billion AI infrastructure agreement it inked with OpenAI earlier this week.
Microsoft took the cake, though, reporting a backlog of a whopping $392 billion. That means the big three have a combined order backlog of $747 billion — and there are plenty of other major players emerging in this space.
Wheeling and dealing
Oracle and CoreWeave are notably missing from this picture. Though they currently have 3% and 1% cloud infrastructure market share by Synergy’s count, both have been at the center of massive deals with OpenAI and others.
Truly, it's starting to seem like there's a multi-billion "deal" of some kind announced nearly every other day.
It's a bit mind-boggling, but CNBC recently published a nice visual illustrating the way in which many of these overlap. But we digress.