AI Capex to Surge in 2025 as Hyperscalers Boost Spending, Says BofA

Bank of America (BofA) analysts reaffirm a bullish outlook for data center and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spending in 2025, highlighting strong momentum from major U.S. hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon. According to a recent note, BofA expects global AI capital expenditures (capex) to soar 44% year-over-year to $414 billion in 2025, with further growth to $432 billion in 2026.

Despite first-quarter 2025 AI hyperscaler spending falling slightly short of expectations—$92.0 billion versus the forecasted $93.8 billion—BofA notes that investment intentions remain strong across the board. Meta Platforms notably raised its 2025 capex forecast to $64 billion–$72 billion, up from $60 billion–$65 billion, while Google and Microsoft reiterated their robust spending plans. Amazon maintained its prior capex outlook of $105 billion.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) remain BofA’s top stock picks to benefit from the AI boom, with AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) also gaining appeal amid increased chip demand. Marvell, a key Amazon supplier, is already ramping up volumes in response to heightened orders.

The bank outlines four key drivers behind continued AI infrastructure scaling: rapid model size growth (doubling every six months), expansion of derivative models like DeepSeek AI, increased inference demands generating up to 100 times more tokens, and growing sovereign and enterprise AI adoption.

While some concerns have emerged over efficiency-focused models requiring fewer hardware resources, BofA maintains that hyperscalers’ aggressive AI investment strategies will sustain chipmaker growth. Contract chipmaker TSMC also continues to benefit from the surging demand in AI-driven semiconductor production.

The AI infrastructure boom shows no signs of slowing, positioning chipmakers and cloud giants for another year of outsized growth.