North America’s data center vacancy rate reaches an all-time low of 1.6%

1.6%

Vacancy rates at North American data centers reached a record low of 1.6% in the first half of 2025, according to new data from real estate services firm CBRE. The rate represents “unrelenting demand” from hyperscalers and AI occupiers, the firm said in a press release.

That said, data center REITs like Equinix have performed poorly as investors punish it for its profit-eating capex spending, as the company — like the Big Tech businesses that also use its services — develops more data centers to get ahead of the AI boom.

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Jon Keegan

Microsoft, Amazon, and Google all have cumulonimbus-sized cloud backlogs

Amid searing demand for AI computing, the top cloud companies can’t keep up with demand.

Rani Molla4h

Google uses an AI-generated ad to sell AI search

Google is using AI video to tell consumers about its AI search tools, with a Veo 3-generated advertisement that will begin airing on TV today. In it, a cartoonish turkey uses Google’s AI Mode to plan a vacation from its farm before it’s eaten for Thanksgiving.

Like other AI ad campaigns that have opted to depict yetis or famous artworks rather than humans, Google chose a turkey as its protagonist to avoid the uncanny valley pitfall that happens when AI is used to generate human likenesses.

Google’s in-house marketing group, Google Creative Lab, developed the idea for the ad — not Google’s AI — but chose not to prominently label the ad as AI, telling The Wall Street Journal that consumers don’t actually care how the ad was made.

Exclusive | Google’s First AI Ad Avoids the Uncanny Valley by Casting a Turkey

Rani Molla5h

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft combined spent nearly $100 billion on capex last quarter

The numbers are in and tech giants Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft spent a whopping $97 billion last quarter on purchases of property and equipment. That’s nearly double what it was a year earlier as AI infrastructure costs continue to balloon and show no sign of stopping. Amazon, which reported earnings and capital expenditure spending that beat analysts’ expectations yesterday, continued to lead the pack, spending more than $35 billion on capex in the quarter that ended in September.

Note that the data we’re using here is from FactSet, which strips out finance leases when calculating capital expenditures. If those expenses were included the total would be well over $100 billion last quarter.

Rani Molla

Slicing the Pie

The best analyst questions from Apple’s earnings call

Apple even answered some of them!

Apple reports Q4 earnings and revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates

The iPhone maker reported its FY 25 fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

Rani Molla23h

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