Hanford Nuclear Reservation with Northwest Energy's nuclear reactor letting off steam in the background. (Photo by Tobin, via Flickr, Creative Commons)

Over half of the investment is reserved for infrastructure. Microsoft President Brad Smith frames AI investment as key to economic growth.

While Microsoft is thinking on a global scale, the company's Vice Chair and President said more than half of this total investment will be in the US

The software giant's president, Brad Smith, said Friday in a blog post that more than half of the $80 billion would be spent in the U.S.

Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025.

Over half of Microsoft’s $80 billion in spending will take place in the U.S., Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a Friday blog post.

The order calls for leasing federal sites owned by Defense and Energy departments to host gigawatt-scale AI data centers and new clean power facilities - to address enormous power needs on a short time frame.

President Joe Biden on Jan. 15 signed an ambitious executive order on artificial intelligence that seeks to ensure the infrastructure needed for advanced AI operations, such as