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Alphabet reported negative free cash flow for the first time in company history, and the culprit is capital expenditure. Spending on infrastructure doubled year over year in the second quarter, reflecting an aggressive AI buildout. For shareholders, the question is whether that investment generates returns before patience runs thin.
That AI spending race connects directly to the talent crunch playing out at Amazon Web Services. The cloud giant has committed one billion dollars to forward-deployed engineering, but an AWS vice president says finding qualified candidates is genuinely difficult. These engineers sit at the intersection of deep technical skill and client-facing problem solving — a combination she called unicorns, and the label fits.
On the semiconductor side, investors weighing AI exposure are parsing the difference between Broadcom and Micron. Broadcom brings custom silicon and networking infrastructure to the table, while Micron's high-bandwidth memory is increasingly essential to large model training. Over a three-year horizon, both carry conviction, but they represent distinct bets within the same ecosystem.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
