Microsoft and Meta earnings put a focus on payoffs from AI spending

By Jeran Wittenstein, Bloomberg

Investors wondering about payoffs from the pile of cash being spent on artificial intelligence should get some clues when Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. post earnings after the close Wednesday.

The tech giants are the first of Corporate America’s four biggest AI spenders to report, with results from Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. due next week. This year alone, the quartet is expected to have about $505 billion in combined capital expenditures...