Microsoft: Capex by Quarter

~$175B · actual $72.9B (2 of 4 quarters)

Finance leases are included in capital expenditures while operating leases are not. Outside of this useful life impact, our calendar year 2026 CapEx investment expectations remain unchanged. However, the shift from finance to operating leases adjusts our expectation to approximately $175 billion.

A 15bn reduction that is not a spending cut. Microsoft said its calendar 2026 investment expectations were unchanged; a useful-life update moved leases from finance to operating, and operating leases do not sit inside capital expenditures on this basis. The plan held and the definition moved, which is the distinction the headline number destroys.

primary sourcetier-1 source

$50B and above

We expect CapEx spend will be over $50 billion including the lease reclassification impact from the useful life update.

The floor moved from over 40bn to over 50bn in one quarter, and this one carries a qualifier the previous guide did not: the lease reclassification is inside the number.

primary source

$40B and above · actual $41B

CapEx spend to increase to over $40 billion as we continue to bring more capacity online

Guided on the FY26 Q3 call, alongside a warning that finance leases add variability because the full value is recorded in the period the lease commences.

primary sourcetier-1 source

~$190B · actual $72.9B (2 of 4 quarters)

For calendar year 2026, we expect to invest roughly $190 billion in capital expenditures which includes approximately $25 billion from the impact of higher component pricing.

A calendar-year guide from a June-fiscal-year company, which is why it is scored against calendar quarters rather than fiscal ones. Roughly 25bn of the total is component pricing rather than extra capacity.

primary sourcetier-1 source

• Floor raised: floor moved from $40B to $50B
• Intensity softened: direction eased from increase, higher to unchanged

• Direction reversed: direction flipped from decrease to increase, higher
• Range added: a floor appeared where there was no figure
• Timing hedge removed: dropped: variability, timing, timing of delivery, sequential basis

• Direction reversed: direction flipped from increase, increasing, growing, growth, accelerating, higher to decrease
• Timing hedge added: added: sequential basis

Headline

$41B

Cash capex

$35.8B

Finance leases

$5.6B

Basis gap

-$402M

Cash capex of 35.8bn plus 5.6bn of finance leases reconciles to the roughly 41bn stated on the call. The four FY26 quarters on file sum to the 115,948 twelve-month figure in the release, so the quarterization closes exactly.

primary sourcetier-1 source

Headline

$31.9B

Cash capex

$30.9B

Finance leases

$4.7B

Basis gap

-$3.7B

The quarter where the two bases pull apart hardest: management described capex of 31.9bn, down sequentially on the timing of finance lease deliveries, while cash paid for property and equipment rose to 30.9bn. Accrual spend fell, cash payment caught up with the prior quarter's accruals. The stated total sits 10% below cash capex plus the 4.7bn of finance leases.

primary sourceprimary sourcetier-1 source

Headline

$37.5B

Cash capex

$29.9B

Finance leases

$6.7B

Basis gap

$924M

Finance leases of 6.7bn were described on the call as primarily large datacenter sites. Cash capex plus finance leases lands within 2.5% of the 37.5bn stated total.

primary sourcetier-1 sourcesource

Headline

$34.9B

Cash capex

$19.4B

Finance leases

n/a

Basis gap

n/a

The cash line is from the release and is the confirmed figure. The 34.9bn stated total is the capex-including-finance-leases number quoted from the call in contemporaneous coverage; the finance-lease component for this quarter is not recorded because reporting of it was inconsistent, which is why the gap column is blank here.

primary sourcetier-1 sourcesource

Headline

$17.1B

Cash capex

$17.1B

Finance leases

n/a

Basis gap

n/a

Microsoft never reports a standalone June quarter for the cash capex line, so this is the twelve-month FY25 figure of 64,551 less the nine-month figure of 47,472. Both come from prior-year comparative columns in the FY26 releases.

primary sourceprimary source

Headline

$16.7B

Cash capex

$16.7B

Finance leases

n/a

Basis gap

n/a

Prior-year comparative column of the FY26 Q3 release. The three FY25 quarters on file sum to the 47,472 nine-month figure in the same statement.

primary source

Headline

$15.8B

Cash capex

$15.8B

Finance leases

n/a

Basis gap

n/a

Prior-year comparative column of the FY26 Q2 release.

primary source

Headline

$14.9B

Cash capex

$14.9B

Finance leases

n/a

Basis gap

n/a

Additions to property and equipment, read from the prior-year comparative column of the FY26 Q1 release.

primary source