Microsoft reported a $37 billion AI run rate in Q3 FY2026, then quietly dropped AI-specific disclosure in Q4. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft all posted record cloud revenue growth last quarter, and every major outlet called it proof that AI is paying off. None of them have broken out actual AI revenues. What they have done: raised prices, bundled AI features into core subscriptions without consent, and collected billions in compute spend from Anthropic and OpenAI, two companies that cannot survive without being funneled tens of billions of dollars per year.
The circular financing here is the real story. Google has committed up to $40 billion to Anthropic. Amazon has put $5 billion into Anthropic and $50 billion into OpenAI. Microsoft told a federal judge its OpenAI relationship has cost over $100 billion including infrastructure. The hyperscalers are investing in the very companies whose cloud spend is making the hyperscalers look like AI winners. Microsoft dedicated its Fairwater data centers to OpenAI. Amazon built Project Rainier in Indiana for Anthropic. Google is in advanced talks to backstop a $15 billion Anthropic data center. The capex boom propping up cloud growth exists largely to serve two unprofitable labs.
Zitron's piece is worth reading in full because it maps the specific dollar flows, names the executives, and traces how Wall Street gets fooled quarter after quarter by topline numbers that obscure structural dependency. A second installment covering Nvidia's transformation from hardware vendor to practitioner of financial dark arts is coming Friday. If you have information on Anthropic, OpenAI, or related companies, Signal contact is ezitron.76.
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